28 December 2012

Sloppy use of language


I  have a strong preference for competent communication. This does not mean that I respect only one style of 'ideal' language, for I am happy to celebrate dialects, language variants and the rainbow variety of restricted codes. Most people who know me will be familiar with my use of non-English words, my sometimes American terminology, and my preference for indigenous pronunciation, never for effect but mostly out of respect. I enjoyed reading Lynne Truss's book, albeit now some years ago. Yesterday I consulted spelling websites in order to check on the most appropriate spelling of the past participle of the verb to spell. I spell recognise with an s not a z. I enjoy word-play (e.g. the single-word purported military dispatch from India "Peccavi"), and I recognise that the term pedant is usually used as an insult.

I dislike the sloppy use of language, and consider it uncouth to revel in language laziness. I feel irritated when I read public signs (such as above express checkout lanes in some Tesco supermarkets), or hear people speaking on the radio (for example Peter White on In Touch, BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 18 December 2012), confusing less and fewer. I feel uncomfortable when I am subjected to the willfully incompetent use of apostrophes. I am at a loss as to why exclamation marks are used so widely and inappropriately, as though the person is standing on a street corner yelling at the passers-by. Where these instances are simply errors to be corrected, I have no issue. My discomfort lies partly in attitudes that revel and rejoice in poor attainment, and partly in that it is popularly held to be elitist ('class hatred' and 'social racism' are terms that have been used) to reject what is uncouth.

William Shakespeare spelled even his name in different ways because that is how English worked four centuries ago. It might appear contradictory that I am untroubled by poor spelling, by poor grammar or by poor pronunciation, as long as the writer, speaker or signer (q.v. Serena communicating with David in Four Weddings and a Funeral) is trying to communicate as well as they are able in their circumstances, and more particularly if they have some form of disability. My daughter has severe communication disabilities, tries hard to communicate as well as she is able, and I have enormous respect for her efforts. However, as I am well-educated, and I do not have a language-related disability, it should be expected of me that my written and spoken English are of high quality, anything less suggesting disrespect. I do my best to speak tourist French and German when on holiday, and although my efforts are not always especially attractive, I always make the effort, because it shows respect.

I hold several closely-related points as near-axiomatic:
1. The excellent use of language communicates most accurately and precisely what is intended. It is to be applauded and celebrated, and should never be sneered at. Language use superior to my own offers me both a target at which to aim, and the opportunity to learn. The excellent use of language does not confer superiority on the user, but it is both considerate and communicates respect for the recipient.
2. The poor use of language, perhaps including obfuscation, obscures understanding. Once I am aware of shortcomings in my communication, I am fully responsible for overcoming them. Whilst not knowing the difference between there, their and they're is a shortcoming, refusing to learn the difference is uncouth.
3. Nobody should be belittled for their poor use of language. However, shortcomings in accuracy and poverty of expression should be recognised, and, where appropriate, acknowledged. This is especially the case with notices. Brazenly placing on public display that which is patently a poor use of language is ill-mannered.
4. The use of a dictionary (in book and on-line formats) allows me both to spell accurately, for which purpose a dictionary should be used whenever there is doubt, and also allows me to refine my understanding of the words that I use. The use of a thesaurus (in book and on-line formats) allows me both to expand my vocabulary and to chose the most appropriate word or term to use. Just as a car helps me to travel greater distances than can be covered on foot, so dictionaries and thesauri allow me to range more widely in thoughts, concepts and ideas.
5. Most word processors have a spelling-check function, offering little excuse for poor spelling in a type-written document. Failure to use a spelling checker communicates a lack of respect, perhaps inadvertent, for the recipient.

19 December 2012

Not wowwed

At least a part of me has a strong preference for politeness, good manners and the giving and receiving of respect. I use the words 'please' and 'thank you' when making requests; I greet strangers walking along the riverbanks to and from Durham City; when I see people examining a street plan of the city I ask them if they require guidance; I open doors for people. These courtesies are minor virtues that I expect of myself, and hope for from others.

Yet every day I am required to tolerate ill-mannered behaviour that is aimed directly at me. Young men and women call out to me insultingly because I have a beard. Track-suited parents turn away from me to talk to their children who then stand and stare at me as I walk past, giggling about what they have just be told. Men in their thirties driving white transit vans honk their horns at me as they drive past. Car passengers wind down a window in order to shout abuse at me, even though their words are lost on the wind. A passenger in a passing car threw an almost-empty drink can at me; on another occasion it was a lighted cigarette. On several occasions as I have walked along  shopping streets, local men and women in their twenties have yanked at my beard, and then stood laughing both with hilarity and challenging me to do something about it.. On two occasions middle-aged me, again people unknown to me, have approached me while I have been standing waiting in the Market Place, poked me in the stomach and asked: "When's it due?" The most upsetting and disturbing incident was when, only a hundred metres from my house, I was set upon and beaten by three young men who did not like the look of me.

A more benign part of me recognises that the person who I am means nothing to any of these people. I speculate about their life experiences that account for their ill-mannered, uncouth, sometimes yobbish and aggressive behaviour. It is clear in every instance that they are seeing someone they recognise as different from themselves. There have been two well-publicised examples (Shotley Bridge, Consett; and Redhouse, Sunderland) of local young men and women terrorising, assaulting and killing a person with a learning disability. In another well-publicised case (Darlington), several young men beat to death a well-known old man who was homeless. I am far from the only victim of loutish, sometimes brutal behaviour, singled out for being different. It is not only me who feels as though I am not given the respect of common courtesy. I suspect that the perpetrators do not respect themselves to any depth, and may not feel respected by others.

However, this cannot be the whole story, because to a person, every younger or older person, man or woman, who has behaved poorly towards me is white. I do not experience abuse of any kind from Black British or Asian British people.

Recently there was a tragic incident in which a London nurse ended her life because she was unable to bear the shame of public humiliation inflicted on her by the uncouth behaviour of two Australian radio presenters. "It was only a bit of fun," (just not for the person who was humiliated).

I feel disgust for a television advertisement that appears to revel in ill-mannered, uncouth behaviour. The advertisement is for a group discount product called Wowcher, in which a young woman behaves in a triumphantly uncouth manner stabbing at her food when attempting to eat sushi with chopsticks.

I found the following instructions on the web:
"Do not hold the chopsticks close to the end. The farther away your hands are from the food, the better. Do not stab food, as this is considered rude and/or an insult to the chef or cook who prepared the food."

I have much respect for Japanese ways, customs and manners, as well as a taste for Japanese (vegan) cuisine. During my visit to Japan a few years ago, I found no-one to be other than helpful, well-mannered and polite.

My impression is that the television advertisement intends to poke fun, not at the ineptitude of the young woman, but at 'foreign food and foreign eating habits', and to suggest the superiority of western values, ingenuity being implied for what is in fact uncouthness. I consider the advertisement to be offensive, and likely to appeal most to Little Englanders, assuming they were willing to eat sushi. I doubt that I am of the demographic at which the advertisers (and the product) are aiming.

To conclude: I dislike uncouthness, and in contrast with some facets of the culture currently prevailing in the UK and Australia, I refuse to celebrate them.