Just to Be Fair to Our Prescriptivist Friends

I declared my descriptivist leanings and support of John August on Monday. But Pyramus, one of my language gurus, is of the prescriptivist persuasion. According to him, "John August may think that "prescriptivists are assholes", but he's the asshole: there's still a right and a wrong." I don't think he's wrong to point out that there is a right and a wrong; all but the most hippy-dippy descriptivists would agree that some words/phrases/constructions are better than others. It is simply that we believe that rules are dynamic, not set in stone. Language quality should be measured in clarity and understandability, not in conformity to some artificial, Platonic ideal. We see language as a living thing, not a graven image guarded by a bunch of self-appointed fuddy-duddy priests. Mr. P has a right to his opinion, though. Even if he is wrong... *hehehe*