Writing and Waiting.

It’s a well accepted axiom that conversational English is not the same as written English, at least it’s not supposed to be if you’ve been brought up to appreciate the finer points of literacy in a sophisticated society. (I suppose the same is true of all languages, but English is the only one I know to any extent so it’s the only one I can talk about. I’m a little ashamed of the fact, but that’s a separate subject.)

The point I want to make, however, is this: Because I generally follow the mainstream attitude with regard to language use, I find myself irritated when I read YouTube comments in which people write as they speak. I even become a little sniffy about it, which is a terrible admission but there you are. But it now occurs to me that there’s no reason why people shouldn’t write English as they speak it, as long as it doesn’t include so much regional dialect that it becomes unintelligible. In fact, it makes good sense.

I have the opposite problem. I’ve spent so many years honing different writing styles to suit the requirements of different mediums that I now speak as I write, and I can almost hear people thinking: ‘why doesn’t this bloke talk like we do?’ And so I find myself translating my thoughts to suit the person I’m talking to, simply in order not to be thought pompous. It can be a little tiring sometimes.

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Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for that email or phone call or letter which will energise my tired spirit and put a spring back in my step. I don’t know who it will come from or what it will say, but I’m sure it’s waiting in the wings somewhere. Or maybe it isn’t; maybe the black dog has eaten it. (I’m becoming ever more desperate to find something funny to say.)

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And you know how I go on about the fact that the corporate world and the bureaucrats are exerting more and more control over our lives? (I had another example today.) Well, it seems some philosopher called Deleuze has written a book saying pretty much the same thing. That’s the good news.