Az gaan bak yam

(This was written on the 22nd August and being posted now - since I had a backlog of blogs to post....but after the resounding acceptance on the Union - and all that it comes with - following the No vote on Scottish Independence - a wee post about the language of English, as opposed to the wonderfully peculiar peeps south of the border is perhaps rather fitting.)

What is English?  Does it matter to speak and write it properly?

I heard today on the radio – as one does in Kenya where the radio is very pervasive – and actually where it is in most places in the world – anyway, I heard that the 16-year-old-exam grades in England & Wales for English were down (incidentally while maths were up).

I was a member of Miss Fisher’s writing club (Netherhall, Maryport) while I was in secondary school and we mostly learning good writing practices, but I’m not sure I can actually recall anything useful except if you’re writing a business letter, never have the same letter starting and finishing it.

In other words, if one addresses the recipient as Sir, perhaps it would make sense to end “yours faithfully” and if one begins “Dear Darren”, then “yours sincerely” is quite permissible; a rule I’ve followed faithfully ever since.

But in reality, what do we retain from our English classes in middle age – or even earlier in life?

And perhaps, in today’s polarised debate, does it matter?

Dare I posit, that actually, it doesn’t matter how you say it but what you say?  I can feel the blogo-sphere already a quiver with indignation.  Does it really matter that when I tell my good London friend I advise her I’m visiting b@th as opposed to baath?!  We both should (eventually) realise I’m heading off to the city of Bath.

However, I read with despair a few years ago that New Zealand was to accept text-based spelling in written exams; even I, here, will draw the line. 

Or do I?  I remember a rather heated exchange with my linguistics tutor at Oxford on orthographical reform – or how we should spell things, to you and me.

But perhaps it doesn’t really matter if we write, type or text “c u ltr” as long as the interlocutors know implicitly that they will see each other anon.?!  And as language evolves and we allow it to evolve, I’m not sure we can really lament the so-called demise of a language that for centuries has been flexible, inclusive, innovative?!?  That’s the wonder of English.

Let’s leave it to the academics to know the etymology of a word and how “see” comes from German “sehen” and now has been reduced to “c”.

We won’t be able to stop it anyway.  That’s the beauty of language….!

And for those perplexed by the title of this post, it’s in my vernacular dialect (West Cumbrian); it means I’m going back home – which is what I was doing as I wrote this post. 

Learning a good common tongue and learning it well, doesn’t mean one can’t have a dialect or accent.  Do both…!