Comments on: Why have media changed our words?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:44:42 +0000

From the AP Stylebook (2000 edition):

Plead, pleaded, pleading: Do not use the colloquial past tense form, pled.

That’s why its not in the media… More explanation here:

http://www.cjr.org/resources/lc/pleadguilty.php

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By: Ronald L. Hughes

Ronald L. Hughes — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:20:12 +0000

Did English "decline" or evolve?, or did it really merely "mutate?" Given enough time and enough seperation (that is the inability to easily communicate or travel to another place) English would soon "mutate" into literally hundreds of thousands of accented and changed English that would within a few hundred years, become basically un-inteligable to other speakers! This is seen literally before our eyes today in the language of "children" and "racial accents and grammar!" I was raised in the Southern US and I still have problems understanding large numbers of African Americans! The "patois" of Jamaica is an excellent example!

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By: Name (supplied)

Name (supplied) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:07:29 +0000

If you are so keen to preserve the English language from it's imagined decline, should you not first restore it to it's former glory? Shakespearean English is barely legible today, but that's the fault of all English speakers for allowing the language to "decline," no?

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By: Ronald L. Hughes

Ronald L. Hughes — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:15:32 +0000

For cruise ships, one "embarks" (I would assume that it could actually be "embarques!") on the cruise, and then one "dis-embarks!" A "barque" is a rather old word that mostly today would equal a "barge!", but it also can mean an "Ark!" or possible an "arque?" Thus Moses was found in an "Ark" or "Barque!", instead of a basket of reeds. But, of course the most ancient of Egypts "vessels" were made of reeds! And if you have ever seen a depiction of one, its shape is that of an "Arc" or "Arch!" The news reports of a fighter jet crash in Europe recently, used to word "countless" to describe the people who were not killed by the aircraft due to the pilot's efforts. Obviously the number was not "countless" since only a few thousand people were present. I think any of us might be able to have counted the imagined dead? Thanks for your comments John!

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By: John

John — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:38:03 +0000

Oh yes, it's Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage that tells me that "pled" is common in US and Scottish English.

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By: John

John — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:36:39 +0000

1662 FULLER Worthies (1840) I. 276 He efforted his spirits with the remembrance..of what formerly he had been. 1892 Whitby Gaz. 26 Aug. 4 A grand total of 4794 persons were detrained at the Town Station. 1953 T. A. G. HUNGERFORD Riverslake 198 He went up to the mess to plate the meat.

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By: Douglas

Douglas — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:05:40 +0000

Good one, Ron. I caught on to your game a bit late, just after reading John's and Porsches's earnest responses. You should have "drug it out" longer. We all enjoy a good grammatical battle, however specious. Still, your point is a good one. Members of the press abuse the language daily. I recently heard the (alleged) verb "efforting" used—or should I say utilized—by a newscaster from MSNBC. The press is not alone in this. Amtrak insists that I am a "customer," rather than a passenger. I fee like a pigeon. They tell me to "detrain." Greyhound, to their credit, has never asked me to "debus." And TV chefs always want to tell me how to "plate" my food, as if it were to be coated in gold. You ask where it will stop. It won't. It will go on until English breathes its last dying breath. We will argue then whether it is redundant to say "last dying breath," perhaps with our collective penultimate-dying breath.

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By: porsche

porsche — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:44:14 +0000

More discussion of this here:

http://painintheenglish.com/?p=4191

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By: Ronald L. Hughes

Ronald L. Hughes — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:07:56 +0000

Dear all, thanks for your comments. And, Porsche you must recognize when some things are said "tounge in cheek!" John, I do not know where you live but here in the USA, one never hears or sees the common past tense in the form you mentioned, all we get from the Media here is "pleaded", that is the reason I was being somewhat facetious in my wording! But, please pay attention to you media outlets where ever you live and see if you notice what I have noticed? Regards, Ron

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By: John

John — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:11:37 +0000

Wait, I got that backwards. Ron isn't complaining about "pled", he's complaining that no one uses "pled" any more. This is false; "pled" is a common past tense of "plead", used in US and Scottish English. In fact usage writers sometimes complain that "pled" is wrong, and only "pleaded" is correct.

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