Be careful when you ask for writing advice.
But some only want to bring you in line with their idea of correct writing.
There are pedants for every area of knowledge: people who gatekeep under the guise of educating others.
And editor Pippa Bailey roasts them inan essay about the evolution of language.
It is superior and elitist; language not as a means of communication but of status.
A pedant thinks that their language was handed down from on high in its current form.
They think language is fixed like a law of physics.
This is like thinking that a dollar is worth a dollar because of the value of green ink.
Its Steve Martins joke about visiting France: These people, its like theyve got a different word foreverything!
And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
[Pedants] think language is fixed like a law of physics.
This is like thinking that a dollar is worth a dollar because of the value of green ink.
it’s possible for you to similarly take apart any form of pedantry in any area of knowledge.
There are plenty of rules to all that language.
He worked in a time when the English language was in rapid flux.
Thanks to the internet, we are in another time of rapid flux.
The pedant screams, If you dont follow my rules, then youll have no rules!
This is simply untrue.
They follow not one set of rules but several intersecting sets.
But theyre the opposite.
These rules make our language include more people, whereas pedantry excludes people.
That is the essence of this war.
