sw00308o-english.language

 -
 Opinion


 When it comes to using the English Language, I am not a purist.
 In a currently offline short old essay I somewhat detail why, but
 this morning I wish to progress beyond that.  Behind me a copy
 of The Iowa Anthology of New American Poetries, a book
 published in 2004 by The University of Iowa Press, and edited
 by Reginald Shepherd, waits on my bed.  It is on loan to me 
 through Springfield's Library Station.  Shepherd's "Introduction"
 pleased me deeply/ as it espouses positions I have long held/
 and have written of.  My "At First to Poets" is a core example. 
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 From late 1959 until mid 1965 I was an undergraduate.
 During one semester I took a History of the English
 Language course.  Two opinions the professor shared
 seemed to me quite startling:  that the ( ' ) apostrophe
 would fall into disuse, and that eventually grunts and
 groans would be the fate of the English language.  If
 I write "its its" instead of "it's its"/ will you not under-
 stand, even so, what I mean?  What about qs or qz
 instead of q's; or 4s or 4z instead of 4's?  At least,
 it is something to ponder.  As to the grunts/groans
 foretelling, "though" has--via journalists mainly--
 become "tho".  More extensively, however, is the
 ongoing shorthand fueled by Internet chat rooms/
 with "laugh out loud" becoming "lol" being the most
 widely known.  One day, I, perturbed by an error I made,
 created "dau" for "dumb as usual".  This language I use
 every day has risen to an emperialistic status because it 
 subsumes new words with relative ease.  English, in some
 ways, especially American English, is like a landfill.  Yes,
 there are those who monitor said landfill, but that duhznt
 change it into a manicured garden.
 -
 Beyond all this are the poetics/linguistics stances of poets/critics
 wherein endless arguments both liven and deaden our insights.
 No matter what, every word denotes and connotes; and the ways
 words are used in relation to other words denote and connote/
 dissimilarly.  "Red White" is not the same as "Red Yellow", nor
 is it the same as "red white".  As an inveterate eclectic, I peruse
 varieties ofencompassing.  In the end, one's stance/stances are
 centered in one's personality; and how one expesses oneself 
 reveals aspects of one's personality.  Each poet, each critic,
 however good/indifferent/bad relates the story of who s/he is.
 Like a school of fish, each school of poetics/linguistics has its
 beauties, its truths.  Thank the Lord (the Universe) each person
 is a royal (a universe), for it is in our differences that the human
 race zestfully continues.  I am a dump of differences, a sky of
 differences.  My preferences today may not be my preferences
 tomorrow, or even a minute from now.  Does my telling you this 
 mean I have a disintegrated/disintegrating personality?  No.    
 I simply am constantly sure: the Muse lives.  Be the best   
 who-you-are you can be.   



Brian A. J. Salchert