just because it is commonly misused and sounds more familiar to our ears does not make it correct
As you can deduce, I think quite the opposite. I think it's fundamental to the evolution of language that a sufficient weight of usage defines acceptability. You might have seen my point about "you" for the second person singular pronoun: that was once thought incorrect, but now it would be distinctly eccentric to claim it so. Usage doesn't remain fixed at what it was when the words entered the language, and it's by the process of "misuse" and acceptance that these shifts take place. If the notion of correctness doesn't move with them, then it's a sterile concept.
I also think of memes as a useful concept rather than anything more concrete, but it's in just this kind of thing where they find that usefulness. Many people are by now aware that some say "10 items or less", others "fewer". If over time we observe that one of these versions has come to dominate over the other, then we can characterize that as that meme having won. Whether the winner is more or less acceptable to academic consideration is irrelevant: if people continue to prefer "less", in time "fewer" will sound as quaint as "thou", however many arguments are mounted for its historical correctness.
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Date: 2008-09-05 03:58 pm (UTC)As you can deduce, I think quite the opposite. I think it's fundamental to the evolution of language that a sufficient weight of usage defines acceptability. You might have seen my point about "you" for the second person singular pronoun: that was once thought incorrect, but now it would be distinctly eccentric to claim it so. Usage doesn't remain fixed at what it was when the words entered the language, and it's by the process of "misuse" and acceptance that these shifts take place. If the notion of correctness doesn't move with them, then it's a sterile concept.
I also think of memes as a useful concept rather than anything more concrete, but it's in just this kind of thing where they find that usefulness. Many people are by now aware that some say "10 items or less", others "fewer". If over time we observe that one of these versions has come to dominate over the other, then we can characterize that as that meme having won. Whether the winner is more or less acceptable to academic consideration is irrelevant: if people continue to prefer "less", in time "fewer" will sound as quaint as "thou", however many arguments are mounted for its historical correctness.