I had no idea that the concepts of prescriptivism and descriptivism created such rage. The anti-Semitism part made me look at Language Log's list of authors to see if most of the names sounded Jewish because I wondered if there were significantly more Jews who were linguists. Not a good sampling, and I couldn't tell on many of the names. It just seemed strange to bring up Nietzsche in a discussion of descriptivism. I suppose one could link the Nazi's rule-based philosophy with prescriptivism, but I won't go there.
As I've said before, I just don't get why this supposed intellectual discussion creates such a stir. I know that I get caught up in it as well. But I am not sure why.
I think it's "Kevin" who opened the front with his strange mention of Nietzsche (he originally mentioned it on this blog) and I'm not sure it needed to be opened.
Oy vey. Every single day I learn about my weaknesses in writing and speaking. I rhyme flaccid with placid, as well. [That may seem a little off subject, but it came from a link within the blog link that goofy posted.]
Nothing. "To air [sic] is humane." (Flaccid and err.) The problem with using the "proper" (i.e., older) pronunciation of some words is that people who don't know better but think they do will often (link) correct you.
