Re: ScanMail Message: To Sender, sensitive content found and acti on t aken.

Hello Martin,

You wrote:
>Indeed.  What has annoyed me for a long time is that those who would
>classify certain elements of the English language as "bad" are claiming
>ownership where they have none; or rather, where they have no more than
>I do.  English is _MY_ language,
><individuals-who-have-carnal-knowledge-of-your-maternal-parent>!  So
>don't <safe-carnal-knowledge> with it.

At the risk of continuing an off-topic thread past its usefulness, you
should be a little careful with claiming ownership.  Without someone to say
what is 'good' and 'bad' English we end up apallingly bad English such as
the current practice of using "there's" in the plural.  For instance, in the
vernacular people say "There's two things I want to say" when the correct
form is "There ARE two things ...".  The contraction of "there are" is
"there're" not "there's".  This trait seems to have originated in America
and been inculcated on the rest of the world via the American cultural
medium of television.  Of course pointing that out to people who habitually
say "there's" gets you blank stares indicating a complete lack of
comprehension -- or in the vernacular, "whatever!" (and what, exactly, does
that mean?)

Then there're those who subscribe to the statement espoused by Humpty Dumpty
in Through The Looking-Glass. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a
rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither
more nor less."

Thus we get perfectly good words like 'gay' usurped for purposes completely
unrelated to the root word and its established meanings and in fact due to
that one recent meaning the word itself has dropped out of use for any other
purpose.  I have no issue with homosexuality** per se but what makes them
think they are any more carefree, mirthful, light-hearted, or cheerful than
the rest of us?

** I'll bet that sends the censor software into a pink fit (pardon the pun).

Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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