language

Stephen Fry is my New Language Hero

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My use of language has changed considerably over the last year, at least in my own mind. I don't know that anyone else would notice. I've been reading a lot of grammar books, listening to grammar podcasts (Grammar Girl is my hero!) but of everything I've run across, this has to be the most fantastically amazing.

UPDATE 24/05/2011:Thankyou to @hedgehoglet for the Russian Subtitles UPDATE 11/10/2010: Thanks to Stephen Fry for mentioning this video on his twitter account, rather exciting! Follow me at @RogersCreations on twitter Using the wonderful words of acclaimed writer, actor and allround know it all (I mean that in the best of ways) Stephen Fry I have created this kinetic typography animation.

I've been going to all these lengths to learn the "proper" way to phrase things instead of relying on a lifetime's worth of intuitive understanding, as I've always done before. And yet I've long been a champion of the cry that "language is evolving!" when confronted by people who can't stand alterations to English that seem too drastic, like the dreaded nouning of a verb.

It feels like a bit of a contradiction sometimes, though I have been finding as I study more and more what the "correct" way is supposed to be, the more I enjoy it when I see people using language creatively. If you embrace the evolution of language and are able to see past the stuffy rigid bounds of what things should be, I salute you. Watch that video and enjoy!

If you can't let go of the past, of the way it should be, then I'm not sure what to say, other than I'm deeply sorry you feel that way.