The Peripatetic Philosopher reflects on the King's English:

 THE KING’S ENGLISH

Corrupted by Insouciant American Usage?

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© December 4, 2018

The King's English usage and grammar was written by Henry Watson and Francis George Fowler and published in 1906. It thus pre-dates by 20 years Modern English Usage, which was written by Henry after Francis's death in 1917.

It is less a dictionary than Modern English Usage; and consists of long articles and general topics on vocabulary, syntax, and punctuation and draws heavily on examples from many sources. One of its sections is a systematic description of the appropriate uses of shall and will. The third and last edition was published in 1931, by which time Modern English Usage had superseded it in popularity.

Because all living languages continually evolve, the book is now considered outdated in some respects, and some of the Fowlers' opinions about correct English usage are at times seen as antiquated (yet not incorrect) with regard to contemporary standards. For example, the Fowlers disapprove of the word "concision" on the grounds that it had a technical meaning in theology, "to which it may well be left"; but "concision" is now a common synonym for "conciseness,"

The Fowlers also criticized the use of standpoint and just how much (as in "Just how much more of this can we take?"), describing them as undesirable "Americanisms," but are now common in British English. The book nevertheless remains a benchmark for usage, and is still in print.

Does it matter? If so, where is the evidence?

Most Americans of my generation were taught the rudiments of the King’s English in grammar and high school. Alas, it is obvious that I could have been a better student as people occasionally complain of my grammar and punctuation errors. So, I am not preaching from the pulpit of exoneration.

Much of a surprise as it might be to my readers, I actually try to write grammatically correct. I would like to blame my failure on my advanced age, but that would be a spiteful dodge. It is that I simply do not spend sufficient time to write correctly as the good Sisters of St. Francis were diligent in their attempts to see that I would write correctly.

So, I write not as a person above the corruption, but, alas, as a writer inclined to be smitten with the indulgence. 

What I do have, and again I can thank the Good Sisters for this, is an ear for the tonality of speaking precisely and grammatically. 

When I hear people misspeak on television, it is like a piece of chalk screeching across a blackboard, imagery that I’m sure is foreign to many readers as chalk and blackboards are relics of the past.

Yesterday, however, a quarterback in the National Football League, a player making $33 million a year to toss a football was asked about the firing of his coach.  He replied, “Him and me have no problem; him and me have gotten along good and work together.”

Another player, also a multimillionaire from NFL football, said, “I ain’t got no problem (with firing the coach).” 

Yet, another former NFL player, Hall of Famer, and prominent sports commentator, says, “It don’t matter what players think (about the firing),” and the chorus continues.

Celebrity actors, actresses and musicians on Late Night Television commonly misspeak when it comes to the King’s English, which no one seems to mind. 

Then there are television game shows and situation comedies, as well as crime dramas where misspeaking is par for the course. No one seems to notice that the bad guys in these stories murder the King's English, while displaying sparkling perfect white teeth.  Their speaking lines suggest they’ve never spent a day in school. 

“Why does it matter?”

We assimilate language as if by osmosis, reflecting the way our parents speak at home, the conversations we have with friends and acquaintances, how our teachers and preachers talk to us, and what we subliminally internalize from exposure to television and the Internet.

My mother was severely hard-of-hearing all her life. She was however an avid reader and shared many of the books she read with me when I was young. She knew language, had a huge vocabulary and was an excellent crossword puzzle solver, always using an ink pen to fill in the squares with me marveling at her success.

Perhaps not surprising, I became an avid reader at a young age, and developed an extensive vocabulary.  Without my mother's hearing handicap, I have been guilty of mispronouncing words especially when tired as she was wont to do, an affliction that haunts me to this day.

Adding to this incongruity, when others mispronounce words, I catch myself pronouncing the word correctly under my breath. This can be disconcerting to others, a tic in my temperament that I’ve never quite mastered.

These contradictions and dichotomies are a product of my endeavor to speak correctly as I believe it necessary to stimulate comprehension. 

Few Americans, myself included, fail to appreciate the intricacies of language because we are mainly limited to the American dialect of our upbringing and nurtured experience. Small wonder when we run into someone at the mall or supermarket who asks us a question, we have no idea what they are saying as if their American dialect were a foreign language.

So, why does this matter? 

The first sign of the deterioration of a civilization is evident when its language becomes so corrupted that its citizens are at a loss as to what others mean or are attempting to say.