The recent debate about so-called split infinitives has unwittingly provided the springboard from which I can launch this blog (described by Rory Boland at gohongkong.about.com as "utterly cynical, thoroughly grumpy and completely fun" – can you do all my publicity, Rory?) into the New Year and the new decade. Or not.
For, of course, flame wars are currently raging over whether a new decade actually starts in 2010. It all goes back to whether there was a year zero or not, to Roman and Hindu numbering systems, and to different types of calendar, including the Julian, the Hindu and the Gregorian – not forgetting the Mayan, which predictsWoody Harrelson's rapture in 2012.
I'm not sure where I stand on this dispute. I vacillate between taking the commonsense view that it's crazy to call the 1960s the decade that spanned 1961 to 1970 and taking the dissenting view (always more fun, anyway) by pointing out that the "60s" didn’t actually get under way until The Beatles released Revolver in 1966 and, after a number of false starts in 1968 – the Prague Spring, the Paris May, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Free Huey movement, Cliff Richard's Congratulations being robbed in the Eurovision Song Contest – didn't really get going until 1970, when Tiny Tim appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival.
For, of course, flame wars are currently raging over whether a new decade actually starts in 2010. It all goes back to whether there was a year zero or not, to Roman and Hindu numbering systems, and to different types of calendar, including the Julian, the Hindu and the Gregorian – not forgetting the Mayan, which predicts
I'm not sure where I stand on this dispute. I vacillate between taking the commonsense view that it's crazy to call the 1960s the decade that spanned 1961 to 1970 and taking the dissenting view (always more fun, anyway) by pointing out that the "60s" didn’t actually get under way until The Beatles released Revolver in 1966 and, after a number of false starts in 1968 – the Prague Spring, the Paris May, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Free Huey movement, Cliff Richard's Congratulations being robbed in the Eurovision Song Contest – didn't really get going until 1970, when Tiny Tim appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival.
Back to "split infinitives", the fetish surrounding their use has been blamed for the incorrect administration of the
As an American destined to be far more famous than either Roberts or Obama when the rapture finally comes once put it, "You pays your money and takes your choice". And there's no arguing with Popeye the Sailorman.
11 comments:
A refreshingly liberal view of language, ulaca. Will we see the smiley face sanctioned in 2010? : )
Heaven forbid, James! And please don't use the word "liberal" in connection with me again. It leads me into intense periods of introspection, wondering where it all went wrong.
If the end of 2009 marks the end of a decade, then cricketers only need 99 runs to make a century.
What can you add in praise of a decade when Chinese people referred to themselves as 'yellow peril'?
Yello Peril, Green Hornet, Black Panthers - everything was more colourful then, Nonnie.
According to Philip Larkin, sex began in 1963, so that should date the start of the Sixties. They ended for me in 1975 when I left England, but some might consider they dragged on a little longer until punk rock reared its snarling head.
If "split infinitives" is plural then you should say "their use" - or are you going to argue that the distinction betwen singular and plural is also a grammnatical fetish (as many people already appear to believe when using the words media and data)?
Beetles? Just spotted that one.
The BBC website this morning gives the plural of "octopus" as "octopuses". I was always taught that it was "octopi". Is nothing sacred?
Re the plural of octopus, Fowler opines that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," dismissing octopias misconceived and octopodes as pedantic. Everything hinges on the fact that octopus is derived from two Greek words, "okto" and "pous" (plural "podes"), and that the -pi plural is based on a misapprehension that -pus is a Latin ending.
All those Beatles LPs on vinyl and still can't spell them. Early onset Alzheimers?
'If "split infinitives" is plural then you should say "their use" - or are you going to argue that the distinction between singular and plural is also a grammatical fetish (as many people already appear to believe when using the words media and data)?'
Just carelessness, I'm afraid, PB (now corrected).
Incidentally, I think it's quite acceptable to use "data" as a singular, as in "The data is currently being analysed"; especially if one's own idiolect doesn't include "datum", as in my own case. (It's such a precious word.) With other words, such as "criterion", it irks me when people refer to "every single criteria", because they're actually using the word in (what they mistakenly think is) the singular, making no distinction between singular and plural forms while still using both functions.
Re "media", that's another word which operates more comfortably in the plural form (in the sense being considered) and as singular usage becomes rarer, it's natural that the plural should occupy that space, i.e. colonise the singular. "Mass" when used as a modifier seems only to occur with singular forms, e.g. "mass violence", "mass fighting", so one can perhaps detect some influence from the hugely popular "mass media" on the way the word is parsed.
The language is constantly evolving, and some changes are irresistible (the expanded use of "hopefully" being a prime example). The changes I object to are those that blur distinctions of meaning: to imply is not the same as to infer; continual and continuous do not mean the same thing. Allowing the misuse of certain words to go unchallenged makes it harder to express shades of meaning clearly. All too often imprecision of language is an indication of unclear thought.
There are two works that anyone interested in the effective use of English (and many who are not) should read: Gowers' Plain Words, and Orwell's Politics and the English Language. Note that I say effective, not "correct".
data plural means information singular and informations plural means double trouble and in the absence of tidal datum, you're sunk.
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