In
1828 the Webster dictionary was born. It
wasn’t updated until a century later, in 1934, and then a third edition popped
up in 1961, causing controversy that’s still debated today and is the focus of
an interesting 2012 book, The Story of
Ain’t: America, Its language, and the
Most Controversial Dictionary Ever Published, by David Skinner (Harper).
One
of the many changes to the dictionary in 1961 was the surprise inclusion of “ain’t.”
The book notes:
“Newspapers lunged at the story of the dictionary’s shockingly liberal treatment of ain’t. In Chicago, the Tribune and the Sun-Times picked up the same newswire item, announcing, “The word ‘ain’t’ ain’t a grammatical mistake anymore.” The next day, the Toronto Globe and Mail weighed in.
“A
dictionary’s embrace of the word ain’t will
comfort the ignorant, confer approval upon the mediocre, and subtly imply that
proper English is the tool only of the snob.”
But this was something more than your typical lecture from the union of
concerned citizens.
"We
live in a world of problems, the newspaper explained, problems that arise from
misunderstandings between individuals and even nations. “Where language is without rules and
discipline, there is little understanding, much misunderstanding. How can we convey precise meanings to the
Russians, when we cannot convey them to each other?”
Certainly,
a lot changed in the quarter century between editions. Skinner notes:
“There
was the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II, all of which left
their historical fingerprints on the fast-expanding lexicon. Movies, radio, and television came to the
fore, contributing not only new forms of entertainment but new words to
describe them. The role of women
changed, the baby boom started, the Kinsey reports were published, rock ‘n’
roll was invented. Cars and roads
multiplied. The civil rights movement
began.
"The
idea of America changed. American
culture became “popular,” and serious culture was popularized. The language of Americans went from being a
source of modesty to a source of pride, and mined for literary and scholarly
purposes. More Americans became more
educated and spoke and wrote like educated people speak and write. Feelings about proper usage changed."
There’s
been a long-running debate about dictionaries -- are they to reflect how language
is used or to enforce rules that no longer seem to be followed? Who dictates which changes to impose upon
others? Even the different dictionary-making
companies will disagree on the words and rules to include or remove over time.
Shouldn’t
a dictionary unify us and agree on a standard for all to attain? If not, we are left with a system that,
without exact rules, will fall apart and lead to misunderstandings and
eventually an inability for anyone to understand another. We will allow language to fall apart and
become a puzzle of jumbled images left to wide interpretation and abuse.
“Language
is the expression of ideas,” wrote Webster in 1828, "and if the people of one
country cannot retain an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of
language.”
Are
we already amidst an era of disunity when it comes to proper usage of words in
America? Think about the numerous
threats, challenges, and influences on our words and how we communicate with
each other. Here are some to think
about:
Spanglish: As America sees the number of Hispanics rise
– now over 60 million – we see an increase in the breakdown of English.
Ebonics: As America sees the number of African
Americans rise- now over 40 million – we see an infusion of new speech patterns
and phrases entering the masses by way of pop culture.
Emojis: Non-words are taking over online
communication.
Texting/Emailing: We see a decrease in word-selection,
punctuation, capitalization, proper syntax and the observance of the very rules that
used to dictate our communications.
Technology:
New terms come out of new inventions at a record pace.
Social
Media: New terms are born daily out of
the billions of global postings.
At
some point, probably within the next decade, we will see the creation of a new
dictionary that radically alters the language.
Not only will it reflect current usage and mass abuse – it will seek to
establish and legitimize these changes as a new standard. But such attempts to
standardize a constantly evolving and shifting target will prove to be
impossible. English will likely see a
change unseen in centuries, similar to how few people understand or value old,
Shakespearean English today.
The
English of 2028, on the 200th anniversary of Webster’s radical
dictionary publication, will be one that is somewhat unrecognizable to anyone
who lived before the 21st century (which is only 18 years ago!).
Authors
are starting to write books that not only are written in a language and style
unfamiliar to the reader of the 20th century, they are potentially
writing for a shorter legacy than other writers had enjoyed. Will someone in 2068 even understand a book
from 2018?
Or, is all of this discussion blown out of proportion? We know language, mores, politics, inventions,
ideas, and science have always evolved over time and each has even undergone a
revolution -- or several, but one has to wonder if our world of global sharing around the
clock is also hurting our ability to understand, appreciate, and value this
voluminous amount of communicating.
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