Language Controversies - Blog 2

I have never known of a hardworking professional who has not taken pride or believed in the work they produced. If they did not believe in the values or principles in which they were demonstrating, why would one waste their time and effort to work hard at expressing their feelings and emotions? To do this would just be meaningless and pointless. Having said this, I disagree with dear Mr. Theodore Dalrymple when he writes "Pinker doesn't really believe anything of what he writes, at least if example is stronger evidence of belief than precept." If this statement were true, then why would Pinker throw away all of his valuable time to research and write on and in a style that evidently meant a lot to him? I know for me personally, I would not take the time research and and write about a subject that didn't have some sort of meaning to me!
The term "standard English" may have a few different meanings to different people. What is standard? If something is considered standard, by whom's definition are we going by? When thinking about this, I think about the term "normal" as well. What is considered normal, and by whom's defintion is it from? There is a difference also between speaking and writing. I do not speak in perfect, "standard English" with my friends or family, but when writing for and important paper assigned that will have great significance and importance, I tend to be more formal and practice a higher level or writing skills and vocabulary. Does this make me a hypocrite too? We sometimes tend to cater to the audience around us, making it easier for others to understand. For instance, the way I speak to my three year old niece is a lot different from the way I speak my eighteen year old friend, and the way I speak to my friend might be slightly different than the way I speak to my mom. When I speak to my niece, I need to stoop down onto her level of understand and her comprehension of vocabulary words. I will be more respectful and a little more proper when talking to my mom or older authority than I will be when communicating with one of my really good friends. Pinker is just trying to write in a way that he feels will be most effective in getting his points and ideas across to his readers.