Mrs. duToit has posted an essay on top–down versus bottom–up control of the language (though she never uses those terms), and how the blogosphere and the popular will is rankling the Keepers of the Flame in Academe:
Prior to the arrival of the Blogosphere, the Academics controlled the media. Not directly, of course, but the standards in which the media and journalists conformed to the literary fads. Journalists self-regulated, in consultation with their former professors, to rule on the standard use of “is.”
We reject it. We reject the intrusion. The people are no longer willing to surrender the media, the press, to today’s journalists. Now unfortunately, the Chomskys of the world didn’t get the memo. They’re finding out that the people have rejected their view, their standards, and their hold on the common tongue. It is OUR language.
I agree with this to a point. The purpose of language is communication, and so long as what is being communicated is clear and not open to misinterpretation, I am willing to let a lot of things go (though I must admit that “nook–you–lur” makes me wince; I’m a snob, I guess).
But she seems to implicitly endorse a relativism which I reject:
We are perfectly willing to break the rules of form, convention, or style when they no longer suit our purpose. It doesn’t mean we don’t understand the convention. We understand it all too well. We have rejected it. Intentionally.
Since she lauds Mark Twain, one of the ablest users of the English (and American) language ever to draw breath, I assume she did not mean this implication, but it is there.
It can lead, easily, to the condition of a young man aksing you which be da way to da hizzouse, if ya gots a minizzle, yo? I mean, hey, if “white” English no longer suits his purpose, why not? He rejects it, perhaps intentionally (although likely not, as Cos so pointedly remarked).
Overlooking small mistakes and variations in usage is good and contributes to broader discussion. But let us not leave the door open to throwing out any and all standards!
(And, I hasten to restate, I don’t for a second believe that this was Mrs. duToit’s intention.)