Have American English speakers begun to create alternate expressions that move away from Latin or German roots?
The wild thing is that any American expression is based, ultimately, on the same grand old material. “Sucks to be you,” “’ssup?” and “Talk to the hand” are all based on words from languages that arose across the Atlantic Ocean two thousand years ago.
When JFK was seeking to improve his speechmaking he had his speechwriters study Lincoln’s speeches and mine them for their secrets. What they came away with was Lincoln’s use of monosyllabic words—used to more easily create mood and inflection. What advice would you give to public speakers?
Don’t ever say “um” or “you know” – that alone makes one seem inarticulate. And avoid “uptalk” (the rising intonation at the ends of sentences) – it is used to solicit agreement or participation but it sounds tentative, as if one were always asking a question.
What advice would you give to budding bloggers or seasoned writers?
It’s hard for me to speak to bloggers because I don’t blog myself. However, if I had any advice to writers as a writer it would be to let your own speaking voice into your written prose more than we are often taught to think we should.
Part 2 of this question: has the idea that bloggers are irrelevant or harmful to “real” journalism been debunked, in your opinion? Where do bloggers fall on the writing continuum from prosaic to prophetic?
Over the past few years blogs have become a central part of the national conversation and I think it’s interesting – the world really does start to become a village. The days when the news happened and got around slowly – which I started writing during the last few years of – were, it turns out, an interregnum between most of humanity’s existence, when information circulated among small groups of a hundred or so and no language was written at all, and today, when humans are writing to one another all the time on the hour. However, in terms of prosaic vs. prophetic, I must admit that much of the time the word I would choose is pathetic – I am truly revulsed [sic] by the tendency among many bloggers to be recreationally mean to attract attention and to blow off steam. It’s puerile behavior and I am surprised by how readily so many bloggers fall into it.
Your book Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue I believe differs radically from your other tomes on linguistics. In general, can you tell us how?
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