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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric
I think we 'oldies' spent so much time and effort on spelling and grammar tests during our education that we expect subsequent generations to suffer the same to maintain standards.
There is much more to be learnt now because of advances in science, that english grammar can't be given the same importance that it was due to 'time factors' in the school curriculum.
With the advent of email and text messaging the differences between the old standards and the new are blatantly obvious.
I regret this reduction in standards too, and sometimes it annoys me that the youngsters are so blase(can't make an accent mark) about it, but we have to remember that languages are fluid and evolving by nature (anyone who has tried to read Chaucer will know what I mean  ) -- it's just that the change is happening faster than it ever did before - due to new technology
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When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided, who, being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay.
Samuel Johnson was a pompous s**t, but he did make some good points.