“What absolute drivel, what rubbish, what poppycock.”
by Peter Bradwell
Alongside some good press, there was some ripe coverage of the pamphlet too. I say it was ‘of’ our pamphlet – actually, we found it a little difficult recognising our position or its recommendations in some of the coverage. We shouldn’t be too precious about these things of course, but I thought it was worth making a brief comment about this stuff.
The Daily Mail was perhaps the pick of the bunch, with the disbelieveing headline ‘A-Levels in Hinglish?’ We gathered some stinging comments too. The headline of this post is how my favourite comment begins, a note from Ken – Suffolk. I think he is worth quoting in full:
“This hair-brained notion can only have come from one of those groups of intellectual pygmies that inhabit various and nefarious 'think-tanks' and consultancies who lose sight of common sense in the rarified atmosphere they breath and share among themselves. English is English and does not need manipulating to meet the way that other nationalities chatter. No wonder half the children leaving school are unable to express themselves clearly.”
I just looked up nefarious (in an Oxford English Dictionary, no less), and apparently it can mean wicked, and even criminal! Not very nice. We aren’t taking it personally though because, to be fair to Ken, he and all the other commenters are responding to a pretend version of the pamphlet, one that fits in to all sorts of well-rehearsed stories.
We don’t recommend teaching Singlish or Hinglish instead of UK English, and we don’t think we should ‘dump the dictionary’.
We have what we think is an interesting idea about an online dictionary that anyone can add entries to (called democtionary.org), comment on and develop. And we suggest that we will encounter English in lots of different forms, from functional business English to culturally specific forms like Singlish and Hinglish, and that being able to accommodate and respond to this difference is an important skill.
In the pamphlet we are trying to point out some challenging trends relating to our native tongue that are likely to have a big influence on the world around us, and which will change the benefits and opportunities English has afforded. And we suggest how we might respond.
If you’re interested in knowing more, you can download the pamphlet free here. Do let us know what you think.
dennis Baron
At the start of "As You Like It" you mention that William Penn's city was Pennsylvania. That's actually his state. The gridded city you're thinking of is Philadelphia, so you might want to correct that. On a more general note, the students in my history of the English language course will be very interested in this work, as we are looking at the politics of English today. Thanks.
Richard Sandford
Very much enjoyed the report, particularly as I'm currently in Singapore and learning what Singlish means to people here (by the way, was there any particular reason you didn't discuss the "Speak Good English" movement here? Seems to touch on a lot of the tensions between sanctioned and local Englishes that Crystal, Graddol and this report explore. http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/SGEM/).Love the democtionary. I was wondering, though, how do you make sure the tags are meaningful across languages? Will there be South Americans seeing "automaton" tagged with "robot" and wondering what on earth it has to do with traffic lights? Will be interesting to see what kind of a meta-lingua franca emerges, anyway - best of luck with it.
Rachel Briggs
I think what's interesting about Ken from Suffolk's comments is the fact that - as Sam points out - they have very little to do with the actual argument in the pamphlet. Presumably because Ken hasn't read it. (Is Ken his real name or are we trying to protect his identity?)...I'm far more concerned by the loss of careful, considered and meaningful debate than the continued evolution of the English language. Some people need to get a life - and get online - and read As You Like it. Perhaps then we could engage in a useful discussion about the real arguments Sam and Pete make.