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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 28, 2002
Billy Joel, in a recent interview conducted while he was visiting Florida, said about his skills as a singer-songwriter that being competent at both makes him appear more talented, as there is so much ineptitude in the music business.
This is more than modesty, it appears to me, because I have often thought that this is true when it comes to English skills these days, too.
One of our daughters is a very skilled writer and has a respect for the English language. She is working toward her degree and has sent us papers she has done, which are cogent and literate.
In this way, she is a giant when it comes to skills other people have. At various places at which she worked, she was thought of as the "language guru" because she possessed English skills that were beyond the comprehension of most of her fellow workers. If you had a tough language question, Claire was the person to turn to.
As a lover and respecter of our language and as a lifelong writer and editor, I feel I have a fairly competent grasp of the language. I doubt if I could diagram a sentence anymore or even name all the parts of one, but I at least know generally what is right and what is wrong when it comes to expressing oneself in an educated manner. And that, too, makes me a giant in a culture that uses phrases such as "the language police" when someone corrects broadcasters and journalists on their misuse of English.
Often, TV newscasters go on the air ill-prepared to pronounce names in the news or too stupid to look up a word such as "melee" when they see it in a story and are not familiar with it. (It was pronounced "mealy" in a recent radio newscast.)
So, for all of those faltering in their attempts to urge others to have at least some rules and boundaries in our language, here are practical reinforcing ideas to help us all keep up the fight:
We can remind people that educated people will always notice lapses in English. President Bush recently said that he wanted to provide "a occasion" for something, and Sen. Tom Daschle recently said he wanted to preserve "the artic." Educated people noticed both of those lapses and have less respect for such speakers. Even good ideas can be weakened by a careless regard for how they are expressed.
We can urge our main purveyors of our language, the media, to uphold the highest standards when it comes to language. We can e-mail, write and call when someone makes a mistake. The receiver of such wisdom will not always appreciate such information, but perhaps, just perhaps, he or she will think a little about proper expression the next time.
We can help people get over "fresh word phobia" by urging them to stretch their vocabulary muscles a little bit and use a word that is expressive and strong instead of one that is used to death. For instance, why is security always "beefed up" in media reports? Can't security be "strengthened" or "increased" once in a blue moon?
Finally, we can urge kids to read and have respect for our language. We can urge schools to teach that there is a right way and a wrong way to express things, and that writing is more than an experience but is a way of communicating by which all of the educated world judges us in the future.
I am sure I have many holes in my education regarding our language, despite the fact that I majored in English in my undergraduate work. But, like Billy Joel, I might still be a giant in comparison with others whom I hear and whose writing I read.
For all of those who still care about and love our language, let us now refresh ourselves and determine that the generation growing up in our school system should be urged to become giants and that those who prefer to be dwarfs when it comes to our language should at least be urged to grow a little.
-- Douglas Spangler, a writer and former university administrator, lives in Palm Harbor.