Denis McMahon:Is a dictionary a book of rules of language, or is it a representation of customary practice?
Customary practice - dictionary compilers are quite clear on this. Hence the fact that organisations that work with words have their own style guides (note guides, not rules), and there are several published which are occasionally (as the modern ones will admit) contradictory. Not surprising as English is a mongrel (not a bad thing) and ever-developing language.
Having been married to a editor (and past-sub-editor) of scientific books and journals for over 30 years I've heard all about this for a long time! As a freelancer her first task with a new client is to find out what their house guidelines are. In the end, all that actually matters is whether the language in a particular document is at risk of mis-interpretation by the audience for which it is intended, and that depends very much on the context.
My favourite book in my wife's library is Bill Bryson's "Troublesome Words", mainly because I find it an excellent and pragmatic style guide in its own right (IIRC he wrote it when he was a copy editor for The Times), but also because he has great fun pointing out how often those who set themselves up as authorities struggle to consistently stick to their own "rules". (For example trying desperately to avoid split infinitives...)
We also have great fun with our friends from Germanic countries trying to learn English, eventually the light bulb goes on when they realise there actually are no hard and fast rules...as they put it beautifully in Pirates of the Caribbean: "the code is more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules". You just have to go with it.
Personally I think there are bigger problems in the world to worry about right now, and what we need to be concentrating on is (safely and responsibly) advancing technology to solve them...and even in the day job, when I'm reviewing technical safety cases, what I'm concerned about is whether the language used is absolutely clear and cannot possibly be misinterpreted, NOT whether it is etymologically valid! I certainly wouldn't raise an observation if someone, for example, used the words "voltage drop", it's a widely used and well understood term with no other meaning if used correctly in context. (Unlike, to give the example we were given in my college days which I still remember: "Pull out the fixing pin. If it is bent, replace it." Which uses simple correct individual words but put together is a downright dangerous instruction to write in a manual. That's the sort of thing I'm always trying to spot and I'd suggest we need to keep watching out for.)
But that all said I still don't like the sign "No access for HGV's" even though 50% of style guides say it's correct...just makes me think "No access for HGV's what?" However I try to keep reminding myself as above that there are more important things to worry about. Which is why I don't proof read my posts for spelling and grammar thoroughly ?
Cheers,
Andy
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