Are Word Police Sometimes The Criminals?

Everyone has their language pet peeves, those pieces or chunks of linguistic malfeasance that assault our ears and quickly urge us to police the infraction. Stoning is out, but how do we ensure that the abuse of language, at least in our presence, is not to repeat itself? 

Maybe we are the problem and should be more permissive of language missteps. Perhaps these are not even mistakes and we are the ones who need to adjust to a new day, a time and place and where what used to be a no-no is now acceptable, maybe even preferable to many.  

It sounds like an upside-down world, but it’s worth noting that language is not static. Words come and go. Spellings change. Even definitions. Punctuation, too, has not remained the same forever. But when you are thrust unto the cusp of grammatical blasphemy - or mere change - it is a challenging moment.  

To love the language is to want to fervently protect it, to ensure that we can understand, respect, and acknowledge others. At a minimum, we accept situational language and grammar. Texting is far different than speaking in court. A social setting has its own communication cues than those in a workplace environment.  

We are different one-on-one than when in a group, and we certainly have separate vocabularies - including jargon and slang for a particular time, place, or industry, from sports lingo to Wall Street parlance, from Brooklyn gangsters to discussions by clergy in the Vatican. 

But what do we do when what we have or read just looks plain wrong, stupid, or confusing? To what judge do we bring our grievance - and to what sentencing shall be fair punishment for these transgressions?  

What to do with a double negative? Ain’t? Irregardless? Or expressions such as: “more perfect” or “are quite unique” or “I could care less.”  

After reading an entertaining book, Says Who? A Kinder, Funnier, Usage Guide for ‘Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan, Ph.D., I got to thinking about her argument that perhaps we need to be more permissive of language usage modifications, even when they seem like aberrations and ripe for criticism.  

She understands wordsmiths because she is one. As the dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan, she’s also the Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Education. 

She writes: “Wordies take the time to figure out what they’re hearing or seeing on the page. They appreciate clarity and precision in language and recognize that there are many ways to attain it. They also know that occasionally, ambiguity is our friend! 

Wordies, as part of caring deeply about language, appreciate diversity in language usage as part of the diversity of speakers and see creative play with language a surprising grammatical construction or a new way of using a word they haven’t seen before - as a reflection of human creativity. And like the trained bird-watcher, they study the new usage of bird, to understand what it is and how it works and where it came from, rather than immediately trying to kill it.”  

The bottom line of her book is that we must respectfully listen to each other. Together, we must sort through the options and flexibility our communications provide us. The goal is to be more respectful and inclusive for more people, while still looking to obey, honor, and cherish historical standards -- at least most of the times.  

So, word police must navigate new waters. She writes:  

“Sometimes deep care about the language can take the form of policing other people’s language - or going grammando. The policing of other people’s language can be celebrated as a way to protect the language, an understandable impulse… The people who really care about the details of language are strict about their own and other’s usage. But as you have seen, some of the rules you learned about what is correct in language are not well-founded or inclusive of the change and variation that make a living language vibrant.”  

Although she recognizes the issues many have with using ever-changing PC language, such as when some tried to use personhole for manhole or Latinx for Latino and Latine, she seems to defend the project to change lots of words in the hopes of sounding inclusive.  

Anyone over 40 struggles with the use of pronouns, just as anyone over 65 struggles with technology.  

Many people struggle with being PC because they will say: 

“Who says that word is better than another?”

“What’s wrong with the now-banned word?”

“Does the new word have ambiguity or room for misunderstanding?”

“Why should I use another word when no offense was intended with the original one?”

“How can I keep up with so many new words and words that replace the replacement words?”

“Some of the new words seem over the top.”

“If I don’t say one’s preferred word, I can get cancelled. How fair is that?” 

It’s an on-going debate of what is ‘correct’ vs ‘understandable’ vs ‘wrong and confusing,’ and the challenge to improve our language without altering its uses rages on. Our language, even when bastardized and distorted, is a beautiful thing. No matter how you use or abuse English, can we all agree that all Americans should speak English? 

Right, even that has its opponents. Good luck on finding a conclusion about anything. 

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About Brian Feinblum

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Brian Feinblum now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).  This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, he has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.