THE GRAMMATICAL ERROR OF THE COLLEGE EDUCATED.
THE GRAMMATICAL ERROR OF THE COLLEGE EDUCATED. In response to a question from Dick Weisfelder, I identified OUR MAGNIFICENT BASTARD TONGUE: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF ENGLISH by Jon McWhorter as a surprise Christmas present I got this year. Annalisa found a wonderful book that touches on many of my posts on this blog. For example, I posted here about how I think that a grammatical battle has been lost. “Me and Billy gave the book to John and I” is now acceptable if one goes by current usage, and, indeed, the current usage of a substantial minority of educated people. This is an issue on which McWhorter casts light (or, if you wish, “an issue which McWhorter casts light on.”) McWhorter, as a linguist, simply doesn’t care about changes in usage. Languages, he says, have never been completely logical. McWhorter’s phrase for these deviations from logic is: “All languages leak.” McWhorter dismisses all this as a matter of fashion—but the fashion is whether to make a fuss about this kind of thing. Logic would make “Amn’t I?” rather than “Aren’t I?” correct grammar—but there is no fashion at the moment for fighting that particular logical battle.