ain't ain't a word (some freewriting on language and writing)

I walked into it, as my wife was putting the girls down for the night. The first thing that I heard was, “No, dear. Ain’t isn’t a word.” The wife then turns to me, and she says, “Isn’t that right?”

Well, you know me. And I am not sure why this time, I unexpectedly answered, “Well, Evyn . . . it really depends how and when you use it.”

I guess it was the mood I was in – and after about 30 seconds of my wife’s ranting – I was ready for the debate. She ends by saying, “And You . . . You were an English major! Hrrrmmmph! -- (or some other equivalently weighted monosyllabic grunt).”

My response – “That’s right.”

Briefly on Dogmatism – where good thought goes bad

You know it starts in grade school as the preceding back and forth portrays. Your teachers say – it’s a rule, “Ain’t isn’t a word.” And that’s what we are taught. I might even suggest that, here, on that night, I probably should have landed on that side of the argument (you know, because we are trying to teach a six year old how to effectively use the language). But I didn’t, less to advocate the devil and more because I really feel that “ain’t is a word”.

In my eyes, “ain’t” is simply a synonym for the word “isn’t”. I mean – you understand what is meant when I say, “Dogmatism ain’t cool.” Right?

Or how about this – “pool tables ain’t the only type of game tables.” Here, that means -- games tables come in all shapes and all sizes, on which many different games are played.

My point is – and I won’t digress too deeply into my catholic school upbringing, nor will I address the actions of some of our supposed leaders. The point, though -- we as communicating creatures, smart enough to develop language, must realize that it is just a language – used, at times inadequately, to communicate true feelings, intentions and/or philosophical thought.

I mean -- why be so critical?

Means to the end

In a recent “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (one of my favs), Larry criticized his father for skimping by a few letter on his mother’s tomb stone. At the bottom, it read, “past in 2001” (or something in that line). OK, while probably not that respectful, it certainly was creative, and well, didn’t it still communicate the information it needed to?

Let’s put it this way. Likely, you use Twitter or you have turned to texting from your cell phone. Written communication, it seems, is being clipped at times to a set of commonly accepted acronyms and abbreviations.

That said -- I am almost certain that you know what these three-letter combinations mean -- LOL, IMO, WT*. And they work, they do a great job of saving valuable (cyber) space, and they do a pretty decent job at communicating . . . as long as everyone is on the same page, and speaking the same language.

. . . and of course I see the irony of it all

I swing to both ends of this. The rules debate. I will admit it – I am a notoriously bad speller, famous for dropping words, and even more guilty of not proofing what I spit out.

I, at times, justify this for myself by saying, well as long as I communicate what I am trying to communicate. And, yes, I know others say -- typos, mispellings, and dropped words are just plain unprofessional, and further -- they distract from the points you are trying to make. Those folks are probably right, and I work at improving my own shortcomings every day.

For me, and I want to give a big shout to all of the professional editors of the world, self-editing is hard! I mean this both from a proofreading level, as well as, and all the way up to content management. I am frequently amazed at what these people pull off on a repeatable basis.

Words are cheap, they say

And the question, again: There sure are a lot of expert writers providing outstanding content for a myriad of outlets. And I ask myself, why jump in?

Well, simply to try to communicate and connect with the people of the world. I hope I am doing a decent job.

Thanks for reading & BMoxie BMore!

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More Moxie:

Curb Your Enthusiasm -- A genius of flow: http://www.hbo.com/larrydavid/

Communication is not limited to the written or spoken word, and it is probably the single most important aspect of a home project. Courtesy of friends @RemodelCrazy, Paul's series on professional communication:

http://www.remodelcrazy.com/2009/video/remodel-crazy-professional-verbal-skills-video-1.html

http://www.remodelcrazy.com/2009/headline/remodel-crazy-professional-communication-video-2.html