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Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

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Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#11

Post by BitwiseFool »

psychometry wrote: post #2

Probably a good thing, considering how generally useless and obnoxious the Académie Française is. English speakers around the world have no need for a bunch of snooty, self-appointed busybodies trying to police language.

For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. They don't like loan words in general, and have a particular grudge against English loanwords.

https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/27/france-invents-new-words...

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#12

Post by thaumasiotes »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #5

I like to think that, by definition, the only person who speaks English properly and without an accent is The Queen. Edit: I am only joking.

That definition seems difficult to project into the past, when the King of England might not speak English at all.

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#13

Post by chrisseaton »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #11
psychometry wrote: post #2

Probably a good thing, considering how generally useless and obnoxious the Académie Française is. English speakers around the world have no need for a bunch of snooty, self-appointed busybodies trying to police language.

For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. They don't like loan words in general, and have a particular grudge against English loanwords. https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/27/france-invents-new-words...

Do they have any practical authority? Why don't people tell them to mind their own business?

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#14

Post by thaumasiotes »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #11
psychometry wrote: post #2

Probably a good thing, considering how generally useless and obnoxious the Académie Française is. English speakers around the world have no need for a bunch of snooty, self-appointed busybodies trying to police language.

For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. They don't like loan words in general, and have a particular grudge against English loanwords. https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/27/france-invents-new-words...

> For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast.

I can think of worse ideas. It's always shocking to me how people think that there's a difference of some kind between "podcasts" and "audio files that you download from the internet". The name really seems to be doing serious damage to people's understanding of what's happening.

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#15

Post by ghaff »

neither_color wrote: post #9
HenryKissinger wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans, for one, would never recognize the authority of a foreign body over their language.

But each English speaking country could form its own academy and work together, which is how Spanish speaking countries do it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Academies_of_...

But why? There are specific dictionaries and a variety of widely-used style books both specific and less so. There are some disagreements which may result in, say, a given company following different style rules for different purposes.

To the latter point, for example, a lot of companies use Oxford comma in general but don't for press releases and related because AP doesn't follow Oxford.

In general, though, it all works out. I see very little appetite for another group of authorities than the ones who already exist.

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#16

Post by dqv »

neither_color wrote: post #9
HenryKissinger wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans, for one, would never recognize the authority of a foreign body over their language.

But each English speaking country could form its own academy and work together, which is how Spanish speaking countries do it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Academies_of_...

Right. I think people forget that there are many dialects of English.[0] I wouldn’t be surprised if linguists find a new “internet dialect” of English in the future as well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_English

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#17

Post by causality0 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #14
BitwiseFool wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. They don't like loan words in general, and have a particular grudge against English loanwords. https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/27/france-invents-new-words...

> For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. I can think of worse ideas. It's always shocking to me how people think that there's a difference of some kind between "podcasts" and "audio files that you download from the internet". The name really seems to be doing serious damage to people's underst…

One is a subtype of the other. Would you insist on using "radio broadcast" instead of "morning show"? Aside from that, a podcast is still a podcast regardless of whether you downloaded it, streamed it, or distributed it over media like flash drives and compact discs. That's why it's useful to have a new noun.

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#18

Post by BitwiseFool »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #12
BitwiseFool wrote: post #5

I like to think that, by definition, the only person who speaks English properly and without an accent is The Queen. Edit: I am only joking.

That definition seems difficult to project into the past, when the King of England might not speak English at all.

The joke I tried to make was an allusion to how the Metric System's units like the meter and the kilogram were all based on reference objects before they were truly modernized. So despite the reference objects losing tiny amounts of mass over the years, they were, by definition, what a kilogram should be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Prototype_of_the...

Admittedly, I now realize that I in no way made that allusion clear!

Re: Why isn’t there an English Academy? Blame the plague

#20

Post by chrisseaton »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #14
BitwiseFool wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. They don't like loan words in general, and have a particular grudge against English loanwords. https://www.euronews.com/2020/05/27/france-invents-new-words...

> For other readers who want an example of this, look no further than how the Académie Française wants people to use the term "audio à la demande" instead of Podcast. I can think of worse ideas. It's always shocking to me how people think that there's a difference of some kind between "podcasts" and "audio files that you download from the internet". The name really seems to be doing serious damage to people's underst…

'Audio files that you download from the internet' could be absolutely anything - a song, an opera, a news broadcast, a test signal, a play... tells you nothing. 'Podcast' gives you a general idea of the medium and intent. That's useful.

Otherwise we might as well call everything in the universe 'stuff' if you really don't like nouns that may have a slight overlap.

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