Writing English.

[Les Howell]

On Sat, 2013-11-23 at 01:26 +0000, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Nov 2013 09:54:39 +1300
> Rolf Turner <r.turner at auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
> > 
> > Why can't computer geeks learn to write English correctly?
> 
>   http://xkcd.com/1238/
> 
> HTH, :-)
> Marko
> 

good one Marko,

But if we all think about it, really... Who is Mark Twain?  Why is he
famous?  Did you read Catcher in the Rye?  And what is the difference
between Shakespeare's writing the the books of Mark Twain or Catcher in
the Rye?

English is not stilted, nor is it "cast in stone".  It is a living
language, evolving, changing, adding new words, new feelings and
inventions of catch phrases, common usage and so on.

Dictionaries do not set the language, but rather capture the use of the
language, which evolves over time.  I love reading, and yes, technical
reading is miserable, not because the content doesn't interest me, but
because some people in academia have the idea that there is only one
effective way to phrase a thought or idea.  It is further perpetrated by
a legal system that is fraught with poor language, definitions that are
set by arcane rules and definitions that are purely the construct of the
legal profession, and while that may be necessary on some level, the
extent to where it has degenerated is abysmal.  Would you wish that on
the creative individuals that create our most fundamental tools in the
modern world?  I would not.  

While the requirements for such phrasing in the legal aspects of our
world, like licensing, or patents or other legal and binding documents
are hampering creativity all around, why would you want to impose that
on the flow here?

This is not a troll.  I will not comment further.