Apparently so, because I see it all the time throughout the
internet.
There’s no such word as ‘forums’ either. It’s fora. It’s a
simple enough lesson, but if you look at most online message boards you’d think
that learning a new word was as impossible as implementing a decent European
fiscal policy or teaching D*n Br*wn how and when to use exposition.
I’m utterly dismayed when I read things like the following,
which is a large forum creator’s explanation that he knows that ‘fora’ is the
correct plural, however…
‘…whilst we are
against most forms of language dumbing-down, we are also against unnecessary
complication. Everyone knows and understands the word forums. Most people don't
know what fora means. There is almost no chance of changing that situation
significantly, no matter how hard the purists might want to. Like the failed
Esperanto language, we believe reality wins over idealism. It's sad but inescapably
true. We don't believe it makes sense to promote fora as the
"correct" pluralisation because it creates confusion, offers no real
benefit, and can't work anyway so it's pointless trying.’
That’s that then; it’s pointless trying. I know that you can’t
see me, but I’m shaking my head in disbelief and exasperation. He may as well have
said, ‘I’m going to die so it’s pointless living’.
We have the language of Keats, of Milton, of Shakespeare and
it’s pointless trying to retain its magnificent complexity. We may as well
reduce it to ‘Shl I kmpr u2a smrs day’.
It’s as ridiculous as saying (as I heard this week) that a
new blockbuster movie is ‘awesome’. If the great Cthulu and all his fictional
deity mates ripped the sky apart and came screaming through the lacerations in
the fabric of the of the space-time continuum along with the Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse, and if they were all lead by the late, great, Charlton Heston
in full Moses regalia… now THAT would be
awesome indeed. But a movie? No. That’s not awesome, it’s merely entertaining.
Do these things matter? Well yes, I think that they do, in
the same way that correct apostrophe use is important – just how did a film
called ‘Two Weeks Notice’ ever get released? On grammatical AND artistic
grounds? Was nobody at all in the Warner Brothers organisation taught about
apostrophe usage with possession and omission? Or maybe they know but decided
against the apostrophe on artistic grounds?
These are rules, and if we play fast and loose with these,
then what other rules can we decide to ignore? Tax evasion? Speeding? Murder?
Where do you draw the line?
I think that you can tell by the tone of this piece that I’m
feeling particularly old this week. I’ve noticed that there are more grey hairs
on my chest than black ones and that when I stand up my knees crack like a shot
from Chuck Connors’ rifle; you might need to look that one up if you’re not old
yourself.
If I’m honest I know that change is good. Change is healthy.
The world is made for the young. Otherwise we’d still be living in Elizabethan squalor,
doffing our caps to the local Squire and eating frumenty.
There is no point whatsoever in ranting against linguistic
changes, trying to turn a tide whose advance is – as the owner of that forum
said – inevitable. It only leads to frustration, stomach ulcers and a
reputation for being the local nutter.
Language evolves, innit? But there’s still no such word as
‘alot’.
© Shaun Finnie 2012
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