No doubt, we don't speak English the "English way," whatever that is. But is it a sign of the times that our command of the language seems to be on the decline. I'm not talking about our everyday, even street-level usage, but that used to convey so-called "important" ideas. Have we "dumbed-down" our language?
No doubt language is important. The list of reasons is practically endless. To lose the use of some of it would certainly be debilitating.
What brought this on was listening, briefly, to the radio this AM. I don't know the name of the author being interviewed or even the interviewers (I think they were sitting in for Bill Bennett). But all three of them just butchered the language. They mismatched verbs with subjects, overused the pretentious "whomever," etc. Can people who don't speak properly be taken seriously? Maybe they can, but maybe not.
It sure would eliminate that question if they just could speak properly.
I'm not going to even start on what is heard on television.
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