I saw something on BBC breakfast yesterday that I thought was quite interesting. An english professor has said that we shouldn't worry too much about spelling and punctuation as language naturally evolves, and we should let it do so.
Now, I always thought of the written word to be a representation of the spoken word, and it follows from that as the sound changes, so the spelling follows suit. From that point what was said is perfectly valid, and there are words in common use now that would never have been dreamt of just a few years ago. In much the same way words and phrases are fashionable. I remember "random" being in vogue, now it's epic and legendary.
But I disagree with him about spelling and grammar being unimportant.
It has never been easier to spell. Spell checkers are everywhere. Predictive text works. You can even go and use a dictionary. With all these tools, incorrect spelling strikes me as lazy. And learning to spell is useful beyond just spelling. It gets people learning which I think is invaluable. With everything standardised, changing how words are spelt seems wrong. I like that twelfth has an F and phlegm a G.
With grammar I feel the same. You don't have the ease of spell check equivalents (at least good ones) but it's easy to find grammar laws online. I admit I overuse commas, and to a certain extent semicolons, but I think they're great. I don't want to lose them or possessive apostrophes. I actually take joy doing formal writing and using them properly.
One thing that is possibly worth including in this is the use of the right word in certain situations. I can't remember being taught when to use less and when to use fewer, but I learnt and it now bugs me when the wrong one is used. Things like that I feel should be taught, but if enough people use it wrongly, language will evolve and it will become acceptable. That doesn't mean I have to like it though.
Clearly all spelling and grammatical errors here are purely intentional and ironic...
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