l’engagé

I hold very few conservative ideas or views. Among them are: a dislike of colour photographs in newspapers; an almost Luddite-like resistance to complete transition to digital photography; a deep hatred of the waste, especially of food, and bad English grammar and the mangling of language! The conservatism related to photography can be cast in the context of aesthetical preferences, and I will return to the issue of food in a later post. Before I discuss the issue of language and grammar, I should make three points which, by the time the reader reaches the end of this post, may seem contradictory….

First, I believe language is and ought to be dynamic and that this is necessarily a good thing. Second, English is essentially an imperial product, in the sense that it was purposefully extended across the world on the back of British empire-building – as part of the means of oppression and the colonisation of the mind – as well as the body of indigenous people in far-flung places. In the post colonial period, the language was appropriated by indigenous people and then re-deployed. There is, as such, no universally accepted “correct” way of speaking English. Finally, English is my second language… and, sadly, I have been working quite obsessively at trying to improve my grammar over the years – after all, it has become the way that I have expressed myself as a writer over an extended period. So… any criticisms that I may make hereafter might, actually, mean very little and may even seem contradictory. (Slip in the Walt Whitman line about how cool it is to appear contradictory)

English in the United States: A Weapon of Discrimination and Patriotism (and Apparently Without History)

In terms of population, the US is the largest settler colonial country that emerged from the British Empire; Canada, Australia and New Zealand are among the others. It is no surprise, therefore, that English is the predominant language in the US – especially since the genocide and ethnic cleansing of indigenous people by whites effectively also destroyed whatever culture, including language, may have existed on the continent. I raise the political and historical issue because there is probably no other country in the world (in the contemporary period) where language, in this case English, is deployed as a weapon and a force for discrimination against immigrants. To be sure, language has always been a weapon of power. Nonetheless, in the US today it is not unlikely to be confronted with slogans like: “This is America. Speak English”.

Uncle Sam wants you to speak English, or Leave!

In the US shopkeepers may refuse service to people who do not speak English. The most prominent example was, of course, the incident where the owner of a fast food shop in Philadelphia refused to serve a client because s/he did not place their order in English. The irony of this matter is that the fast food shop owner was, himself, of immigrant heritage. The shopkeeper received much support – most notably from the most odious of characters, some of whom make Sarah Palin look like the greatest living human being. (I shan’t give them publicity by linking to their websites). A the time of the incident, in 2006, the shopkeeper vowed to retain his policy – and the poster demanding that clients speak English

Geno's Fast Food Place: "This is America: When ordering speak English." It is not unusual for this type of bigotry and chauvinism to be part of patriotism - as evidenced by the ubiquitous United States flag and Eagle .

Language is, thus, used as a weapon of discrimination and tied to anti-immigrant tendencies. It might be fair to expect new immigrants in any country to be able to communicate in the linqua franca – especially since a measure of epistemic capacity is generally required to defend oneself in courts of law.  It is, however, deeply offensive and chauvinistic to use language as a weapon of discrimination in an arsenal of “patiotic” measures to deny people certain rights – such as the right to be addressed in a language of choice – or quite simply as a measure of tolerance and understanding.

Anti-immigrant and anti-Latino Protesters Have Used the English Language as a Way of Discriminating Against Foreigners. See the reference to language on the banner in the protester's right hand.

“Tons of Real Estate Off Of the Internets”

While language is used by some as a weapon of discrimination and exclusion, it is rather ironic that very many people in the US tend to mangle the English language to the point of confusion. Sometimes it’s just poor spelling (see the picture, below) but other times it is a lot more than that….

Patriotic Demands: "Get a Brain! Morans" The ubiquitous symbols of national pride and patriotism are in full display.

It is not unusual, for instance, to hear meteorologists (presumably educated people) say something like: “Temperatures have fallen a bunch“. (Follow this link to a public comment about temperatures having dropped a bunch, or this one to read how temperature has dropped a ton) Or a football commentator say: “He [a particular player] has the ball at his feet and tons of real estate in front of him”. At any time on television news reports, documentaries or in feature film, there are references to “thanks a bunch” or “there is tons of” something or another. The pedant in me finds it particularly irksome when collective nouns or terms of venery are replaced with “ton” or “tons”. A gaggle of geese, a troop of baboons or a pride of lions become a “ton of geese“, a “ton of baboons” or “a ton of lions“. You can also have “a ton of fun” or a “ton of twitter video services” – somewhat alarmingly, if you are a public broadcaster and want to serve your community’s educational efforts, you are free to refer to a “a ton of tall tales” as part of English language instruction. Even news can come in “tons“.  A friend once described the pleasure he derived from working with a certain computer programme that allowed him to work on two monitors simultaneously in the following way: “It’s awesome to have tons of real estate on the screen.”

Multiple Monitors Represent "A Ton of Real Estate"

My favourite (actually, it is fucking annoying) is the phrase “off of”…. Islands are described a being “off of” a particular coast and not off a coast. You may be directed to a pharmacy that is “off of” the main road. Or a person who is “off of” a particular university team’s bus, as opposed to her being off the team’s bus. You download something “off of” the internets, and not off the internets (the Bushism is intentional). Let me emphasise, again, I am not exactly the most eloquent English speaker… On any given day, it’s an effort to just open my mouth. What I found really annoying is the use of the terms “off of” and “off” interchangeably. As intimated above this arbitrary abuse of grammar and diction is not the preserve of only bloggers. One of the books I am currently reading (re-reading in this particular case), is  Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, by Mark Kurlansky. That I am re-reading the book is telling of how much I actually enjoyed the book the first time. I first read the book in Aberystwyth, during a break from my research, and thought his use of the term “off of” was an oddity – until I came back to the US, where I found it to be quite pervasive, to the extent that I though I might be the one who was wrong (that might still be the case).  Anyway, in his book, Kurlansky uses the term interchangeably, as the picture below shows, and I can’t for the life of me figure out which is the correct usage.

"Off of" and "Off" used interchangeably... I still don't know which is correct. Off of does sound rather clumsy and it is often terribly annoyng to listen to someone use it repeatedly.

Let me conclude, then, where I started. Language is and ought necessarily be dynamic. Wherever it is used people adopt English, or any other language for that matter, then redeploy it for their own purposes – as they should. Having said all that, English is my second language and I am not very good at it. In fact, I am one of those writers who always need an editor. I may never stop obsessing about my poor grammar, but while I am trying some people just can’t seem to stop mangling English.