In 1914 … Eliza Doolittle, in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, caused a sensation, and nearly a riot, when she answered: “Not bloody likely” to the question of whether she was going to walk home. The word had not been heard on the stage before.Just over 50 years later the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan, first used the word “f***” on television, creating an uproar. But those who protested and thought it would lead to a coarsening not only of language but of culture itself were soon relegated to the ranks of the fuddy-duddies, whose views could be ignored like those of the Flat Earth Society.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Language most foul …
… Express.co.uk — How polite Britain became addicted to foul language. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
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What about the crudening of journalism?
ReplyDeleteIn this article a new paragraph begins after one, two, or, very occasionally, three sentences. And no single paragraph exceeds four lines. The idea must be that the Daily Express's readership is so low-brow that any greater length of paragraph would prove quite indigestible.
The lack of any clear thinking behind the paragraph breaks becomes most evident in the paragraph that is 8th from last:
"They were a little taken aback and then they laughed; they got the point and never swore in my presence again. Although swearing now means very little in each individual instance, its widespread employment does not mean that it has no effect at all."
Anyone who has had a rudimentary education can see from the context that the sentence starting "Although" ought to begin a new paragraph.
Who are these dimwits that are setting such a bad example for their readers?
Well, I would have written that sentence, "Swearing now means very little in each individual instance, but its widespread employment does not mean that it has no effect at all."
ReplyDeleteWe can have no idea what the copy desk (aka subeditors) did to the copy as received. That said, you are generally right that newspapers have tended to lower the standard of grammar (though The Inquirer used to be pretty exemplary when Gene Foreman was Managing Editor).