With television leading the way, say goodbye to the English language. Nothing can save it. A majority of people — including teachers and other alleged guardians of learning — rape it every day. And no one’s there to speak for the victim. To be fair, there does exist a tiny, anonymous minority that still loves your Mother Tongue. These sticklers have respect for something called Grammar. You remember the word, right? Ugh. Grammar sets down, rather rigidly, the rules of any language. Many people hate rules because rules require toeing the line, memorization, practice and knowledge — things that annoyingly infringe on more important things like watching Bachelorette or posting on Facebook. And everyone knows you’re not cool unless you break the rules. Bill and Hillary Clinton broke a boat full of rules, got rich in the process and their popularity soared. What does that tell you? Well, when it comes to rules, you need to rule out politicians. Their behavior falls under the Ten Commandments and you don’t know a living soul who follows those rules. But you also don’t know architects, engineers, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, physicians, chemists, biologists or musicians who dare flaunt the rules of their professions. They can’t. Mathematics, chemistry and biology are not subjective. Laws of the universe are immutable. One instrument or one voice that sings off-key on one single note shatters any performance. Sadly, the English language has been shattered — at the altar of Ignorance. The destruction takes place everywhere — in homes, statehouses, classrooms, board rooms — on the street. But the rapid mass murder of language doesn’t happen automatically; it requires cultivation — 24-7. Enter Television (and Radio). No one, especially the young, can escape the brainwashing. Children who hear the English language spoken badly by their heroes and heroines, every day on TV, reinforced by parents, teachers and peers every day — have no chance. It’s a done deal. So what is the big deal? Who cares? Over time, languages evolve in every culture to reflect changing demographics, new ideas and new inventions. Vulgarity is part of every society and rightly has its place. Don’t be snobbish and pompous about language. Don’t be a prig, like those stuffed shirts and snooty dames you see in old movies, putting on airs, acting is if they’re better than anyone else. Be real, for God’s sake. America wouldn’t have been a country if a bunch of uneducated farm boys hadn’t licked the Redcoats who spoke the King’s English. Nobody wants a bunch of scholars running around who can’t fix a toilet. Imagine if everyone spoke correctly. Boooring! You can’t answer the second question, but you can the first. The big deal is that a great country respects excellence. You hear coaches preach excellence on and off the field. Business leaders aspire to manufacture the highest quality products. School graduation speakers challenge students to aspire to be the best at whatever career they choose. You’ve never heard anyone — any educator, any celebrity, any sport’s superstar, any politician, and for that matter, any President of the United States, say, “My fellow Americans, I want you to love your country; and because I do, I ask you to respect, to honor our language — the English language.” Someone made the caseĀ with this statement spoken long ago:
“Just think what you’re dealing with — the majesty and grandeur of the English language. It’s the greatest possession we have. The noblest thoughts that ever flowed through the hearts of men are contained in its extraordinary, imaginative and musical mixtures of sounds.”
Unfortunately, this statement is fictitious and falls on deaf ears. What we have in its place are real words spoken by real people, and heard by millions of other real people. You won’t bother itemizing the broken rules of your language. Somebody far more qualified did it in 1974. Journalist Edwin Newman (1919-2010) of NBC and Today fame wrote Strictly Speaking: Will America Be the Death of English? As a Television broadcaster, Newman wouldn’t be at all surprised that his profession, like Jack Kervorkian, is assisting in the execution of the language he loved. Donald Trump can’t save English, but he could delay the decay. He should name Melania to lead a new department — Save English Forever Foundation. He should urge Congress to make English the official language of the United States (gasp!). He should tweet grammatically. He should make English Renaissance a keynote of his next State of the Union. One day, with a little luck, you may hear a HeismanĀ winner speak like Henry Higgens. And perhaps Sean Hannity will discover he’s not in middle school.