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[Siquo]

And then there are the things people say on Facebook are grammatically criminal. It hurts me to log on sometimes, it does.

Most of my friends on FB aren't like that. Except for my 14-yr old cousin, but she does it in french, so that's pretty funny

And beyond all that, inventing words is how a language stays alive. Banning everyone from creating words would only kill the language.

Yes, inventing words is how a language stays alive. I would like to restate that the list is pointing out the "overused, misused, or generally useless" words, not curbing the half million words with less than half as many meanings.

Inventing new words is useful for new objects or concepts. The marketing people call everything they make up a "new concept", though, so they're messing up the language the most. Re-using a perfectly fine modern word and assigning it a different meaning (epic, awesome) for which there already were perfectly good words, is just degeneration.

[penguinofhonor]

This is either people being sarcastic or annoying snobs. And if it's the former, it's not very funny.

Inventing new words is useful for new objects or concepts. The marketing people call everything they make up a "new concept", though, so they're messing up the language the most. Re-using a perfectly fine modern word and assigning it a different meaning (epic, awesome) for which there already were perfectly good words, is just degeneration.

Tell that to "conversation." It used to mean "sex" if one of my high school English teachers is to be believed. I demand that we return it to its original meaning to reverse some degeneration of the English language.

Honestly though, I'm always wary of grammar nazis and language snobs. It's all just a bunch of adults telling kids how not to talk, a bunch of white people telling black people how not to talk, a bunch of rich people telling poor people how not to talk, and various other things. It always seems to line up with the more powerful group using language policing to boss around the less powerful group (barring hatred of political/marketing language such as "the american people" or "xtreme"). And when it's always like that, how can I not suspect that you have motivations other than preventing "degeneration"?

[mnjiman]

stupid article trying to make itself seem better then it really is. HUMANS CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT, JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY THEY ARE BANISHED DOESNT MEAN ITS GOING TO BE TRUE.

Gawd.

[Siquo]

Honestly though, I'm always wary of grammar nazis and language snobs.

Well, there's already too many words for the activity of "having sex" (since "sex" just means gender), so "conversation" is off the hook

Also, since I'm an adult white semi-rich intelligent snobistic male, I feel entitled to tell other people how to use a language that's not even my mother tongue.

mnjiman: Caps Lock is now banned.

[Max White]

I like how they are opposed to English being a dynamic transfer protocal for information from human to human, rather then a strick set of rules for speaking.

[optimumtact]

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Max White]

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Honestly, I read that sentance four times trying to make sence of it.

[Siquo]

I think that's the point.

[Fossaman]

I'm slightly surprised that they take exception to using 'google' as a verb. I 'google' something at least once pretty much every day. Why would I want to say 'look it up using google' instead of 'google it'? Besides, that's been in the public lexicon for years now. Whining about it now just makes them sound like old fogies.

[Max White]

If literature buffs object to making a noun into a verb, they must have had a heart attack reading the works of Shakespeare.

[Soadreqm]

Tell that to "conversation." It used to mean "sex" if one of my high school English teachers is to be believed. I demand that we return it to its original meaning to reverse some degeneration of the English language.

Those wacky Victorians had so many euphemisms for sex it's hard to form a sentence without using at least one or two of them.

[Leafsnail]

I think that's the point.

I'm not entirely sure what polearms have to do with this discussion.

[Siquo]

I'm not entirely sure what polearms have to do with this discussion.

There's no polearm named "point", AFAIK. As there are lots of polearms with strange names, I'm not 100% sure, but fairly sure that there's no such thing. Your new meaning is banned.

[Leafsnail]

I meant the end of one.  I'm not sure what crazy metaphorical term you're trying to derive from the innocent sharp end of them.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Whoa whoa!
Quit being so on edge!