| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | The Queen’s English Society announces plans to set up an Academy of English
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| | | An English RAE? | Jun 27, 2010 |
Interesting move. English has always boasted as being ruled by the people, by the common use and meanings people give to words and not by what some scholastic member of an academy may rule.
This proposal would lead English not only after the Académie Française, but after the Real Academia Española, which has ruled the Spanish language for as long as I remember. And I beleive it has been a good and valuable experience for the Spanish language.
[Edited at 2010-06-27 16:57... See more Interesting move. English has always boasted as being ruled by the people, by the common use and meanings people give to words and not by what some scholastic member of an academy may rule.
This proposal would lead English not only after the Académie Française, but after the Real Academia Española, which has ruled the Spanish language for as long as I remember. And I beleive it has been a good and valuable experience for the Spanish language.
[Edited at 2010-06-27 16:57 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | David Wright 
Austria
Local time: 15:49
German to English
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| There is no law against stupidity | Jun 27, 2010 |
Another example of people with more time on their hands than sense in their heads. What in heaven's name do they expect to achieve? Will the population of Britain suddenly start applying the rules that this self appointed group decides on, or is it a means of creating yet another way of making people who don't speak teh "proper" way feel inferior, or help them fail more exams? I don't really see Johnyy Public giving a tinker's cuss for what these nutters come up with.
And I would s... See more Another example of people with more time on their hands than sense in their heads. What in heaven's name do they expect to achieve? Will the population of Britain suddenly start applying the rules that this self appointed group decides on, or is it a means of creating yet another way of making people who don't speak teh "proper" way feel inferior, or help them fail more exams? I don't really see Johnyy Public giving a tinker's cuss for what these nutters come up with.
And I would suggest a look at the various books written in the early 200s on "bad" English (eg "eats shoots and leaves", but also many more) to see just how little agreement between the self-appointed "epxerts" there is. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | i beg to differ | Jun 27, 2010 |
I'm just saying that - in fact - it's their rudimentary attept to draw public's attention to the permanent decay of language skills and verbal communication in this world (not in the UK but internationally). O tempora, o ...
Victor
[Edited at 2010-06-27 20:03 GMT]
[Edited at 2010-06-28 09:16 GMT]
| | | | urbom
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:49
German to English
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| David's assessment is spot on | Jun 27, 2010 |
There were a number of articles about this lot in the British press a few weeks ago, all seemingly rewritten from the same press release sent out by the self-proclaimed 'Queen's English Society'.
Anyone who cares to search online for that group's website will soon discover that their proposed group would not be in the same league as the Académie Française or the Real Academia Española -- not by a long chalk.
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John Rawlins
Spain
Local time: 15:49
Spanish to English
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| A harmless if pointless pastime | Jun 27, 2010 |
I see this as a harmless but pointless pastime. The real danger would arise if the UK government offered grants, subsidies, and official recognition.
[Edited at 2010-06-27 19:46 GMT]
| | | | | Who cares about.... | Jun 27, 2010 |
"The Queen’s English Society, self-appointed defenders of proper speech and writing since 1972"
I'm considering founding "The Queen's Goalscoring Society". Any takers? I'm thinking about asking a certain Mr Lampard to be honorary president.
BTW, is it legal in the UK (and yes, I did notice this guy is based abroad) to name a society "The Queen's" without her approval?
[Edited at 2010-06-27 19:58 GMT]
| | | | David Wright
Austria
Local time: 15:49
German to English
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| Queen's name without permission | Jun 27, 2010 |
That must be OK; Freddy Mercury didn't seem to have any problems
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David Wright wrote: That must be OK; Freddy Mercury didn't seem to have any problems
He didn't use the genitive case.
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David Wright
Austria
Local time: 15:49
German to English
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But then I'm one of those cantankerous individuals whose analysis of English comes to the conclusion that English doesn't have a genitive case - or any other cases. It's misleading to analyse English using Latin (or German) concepts.
However, Freddy M did not use the possessive s, true. Queen's Park Rangers do though!!
- and I doubt whether HM has given them the right to play abysmal football (usual english standard) in her name!
| | | | | My mistake, you're correct. But... | Jun 27, 2010 |
David Wright wrote:
But then I'm one of those cantankerous individuals whose analysis of English comes to the conclusion that English doesn't have a genitive case - or any other cases. It's misleading to analyse English using Latin (or German) concepts.
I should have said possessive "s".
However, Freddy M did not use the possessive s, true. Queen's Park Rangers do though!!
- and I doubt whether HM has given them the right to play abysmal football (usual english standard) in her name!
But it's not the Rangers who claim to be HM approved, just the park in which they originally started to kick a silly little ball.
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Environment_and_planning/Parks_and_open_spaces/queens_park.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_Park_Rangers_F.C.
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X)
France
Local time: 15:49
French to German
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| This also applies to France | Jun 28, 2010 |
David Wright wrote:
Another example of people with more time on their hands than sense in their heads. What in heaven's name do they expect to achieve? Will the population of Britain suddenly start applying the rules that this self appointed group decides on, or is it a means of creating yet another way of making people who don't speak teh "proper" way feel inferior, or help them fail more exams? I don't really see Johnyy Public giving a tinker's cuss for what these nutters come up with.
I am not aware of the fact that M. or Mme Tout-le-monde would care in the slightest about the opinions of the Académie française or about the dictionaries it publishes either...
[Edited at 2010-06-28 06:35 GMT]
| | | | | Beautiful, David! | Jun 28, 2010 |
David Wright wrote: That must be OK; Freddy Mercury didn't seem to have any problems
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| Great idea!! | Jun 28, 2010 |
English-speaking linguists and translators also have the right to criticize their Academy the way Spanish linguists and translators rip the Real Academia Española's work apart whenever they feel like it!
| | | | | I read somewhere that there has never, ever been a standard form of correct English. | Jun 28, 2010 |
Right back in the days of Chaucer and the poet who wrote "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", there were dialects. Those two did not follow each other's standards for a start!
It was not so easy for people to confer about correct English, just as Chaucer's nun (nonne) who spoke French had not consulted the Académie of the day in Paris... I would love to have heard her.
And frenssh she spak ful faire a... See more Right back in the days of Chaucer and the poet who wrote "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", there were dialects. Those two did not follow each other's standards for a start!
It was not so easy for people to confer about correct English, just as Chaucer's nun (nonne) who spoke French had not consulted the Académie of the day in Paris... I would love to have heard her.
And frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly,
After the scole of stratford atte bowe,
For frenssh of parys was to hire unknowe.
This was a barbed reference, as it implied the Prioress had learned French from the Benedictine nuns, in a distinct Anglo-Norman dialect, that by this time had lost prestige, and was being ridiculed as sub-standard French.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow,_London
Surely the Queen's English Society cannot seriously mean we should impoverish the language by forcing any remaining modern speakers of the Bow language, better known as Cockney, to drop it in favour of some standardised artificial language??
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Only yesterday I heard what was glorious music in my ears on Danish TV - the Northumbrian burr of a very knowledgeable lady talking about the Lindisfarne Gospels. (The programme started off referring to the Vikings, I believe...)
BTW, someone had added a translation into the English of the day above the Latin of the Lindisfarne manuscripts, making them a treasure to linguists as the script and illustrations are to art historians.
The Danish TV-interviewer moved on to Jarrow, where another lady - with a different burr - told us about Bede and the other monks there, who wrote manuscripts (when the ink was not frozen in the inkwells!) that were sent all round Europe.
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And then there are all the other speakers of English who do not swear allegiance to the queen... round the globe.
Let the Queen's English Society play their little games, and the rest of us can enjoy "English as she is spoke", the 27 or so varieties on the Microsoft Spell checker and the thousands that are spoken and written around the world.
With all due respect to the Académie Francaise, the Real Academia Española, the Danish Language Council and their ilk, I think English has been anarchistic as long as it has existed, and there is no way anyone can catch it and tame it now.
[Edited at 2010-06-28 14:21 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Angela Dickson (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:49
French to English
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