Pat’s Polemics

Very popular in my grandmother’s household was Lawrence Welk. Corny or cheesy do not begin to describe him. Popular throughout a certain set does. He (Continue Reading)

I’d like to survey two matters at issue: one would be to ask Latin teachers what other languages do they know and how did they (Continue Reading)

From Proper English: Myths and Misunderstandings about Language by Ronald Wardhaugh, p. 179: “What we have are two groups of people who care about the (Continue Reading)

Here’s another scenario: a guy shows up on your doorstep and asks if the kids running around have a dad in their life. The lady (Continue Reading)

I like Troy’s message for two reasons: it states the ideas on teaching languages from the viewpoint of language as structures which can be consciously (Continue Reading)

Henri, I have decided, since I turned 71 on Wednesday, to stop pussy-footing around on these issues on the several listservs I am on. This (Continue Reading)

This thought experiment is difficult because prescriptivists make statements that are demonstrably untrue. An example is that a language community can dissolve into mutual incomprehensibility (Continue Reading)

The heat of this argument offsets the lack of interest in it on the part of most people. Not many of us get “all het (Continue Reading)

What Happens in Vagueness Stays in Vagueness  Back in February, the following article  http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_snd-american-english.html  was recommended. It is titled What Happens In Vagueness Stays In (Continue Reading)

Looking at these items: • Deviations are due to natural flaws in humans – laziness, slovenliness, stupidity, ignorance. • The best is selected out and (Continue Reading)

Comments on linguistic superiority complexes sparked this blog entry in me b/c what is dogging our profession now is the heritage of both classical learning (Continue Reading)

The comparison starts out “Language is the common property of all humans” on the linguistic side and “Language is the expression of thought” on the (Continue Reading)

I was just reading a review of Rosetta Stone by a teacher of Spanish and Chinese. The language she chose to study via Rosetta Stone (Continue Reading)