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English will fragment into 'global dialects'
<"More likely since English doesn't have an academy that regulates the language, also every country can come up with their own spelling, and pronunciation, therefore it is likely to evolve into unrecognizable dialects." >
Why hasn't that happened up to now?
I think the UK realized the futility of having such an academy... There's always the RP...
"I think the UK realized the futility of having such an academy..."
Futility indeed. English seems to be doing just fine by itself, thanks.
No one seemed to comment on the part about the whole "I am thinking thing."
McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" is grammatically incorrect, still we've accepted as something normal. "I'm loving X" has become standard in colloquial American English. Who hasn't heard something like "I'm loving how he sings" or "I'm loving this salad" or whatever? I wouldn't be surprised if this spreads to other verbs.
<McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" is grammatically incorrect, still we've accepted as something normal. ">
In which way is it grammatically incorrect?
>>In which way is it grammatically incorrect?<<
You can't say you're loving something, you can say you love something, but not that you're loving it. It's just not right. I'm sure there's a big-worded explanation, but I'm no linguist or grammarian. I got it explained once, I can't remember. I'm sure one of the guys here can explain it well though.
It may not be grammatically correct (I don't know) but it makes sense to me.
It's like "I walk every day/I am walking right now." "I love pizza/I'm loving this pizza right now".
<<You can't say you're loving something, you can say you love something, but not that you're loving it. It's just not right. I'm sure there's a big-worded explanation, but I'm no linguist or grammarian. I got it explained once, I can't remember. I'm sure one of the guys here can explain it well though. >>
Lo, I don't know who explained that to you, but I believe you may have received misinformation, or perhaps misunderstood what this person was trying to tell you. There is nothing out of place with the McDonald's phrase "I'm lovin' it" [save for the shortening of -ing to -in']. To hear you say that 1). it's grammatically incorrect, and 2). that you can't say this, is beyond me. I am a native English speaker and "I'm lovin' it" is completely fine. It is implied that you are loving McDonald's food right now, and draws a picture of someone who's eating a hamburger and fries and saying "[Mmmm,] I'm lovin' it!" "I love it" would work too, but "I'm lovin' it" just sounds better and fits the mood better. No problem there with it.
<You can't say you're loving something, you can say you love something, but not that you're loving it. It's just not right. >
So you don't know what you're talking about, right?
I think the professor is a romantic who needs a better crystal ball. It couldn't matter less how English is mangled on a Singapore street. The binding cement is the internet, and "Singlish" will never be understood globally. I'd postulate the opposite of his hypothesis. The internet will have a compressing and standardizing influence on English, the better that a TS guy in India and a customer in Indiana can understand each other. As far as people in Singapore developing a pidgin, that's been done before, literally centuries before. It may help locally with populations who have mutually unintelligible dialects, but it's not going to affect the big picture at all. Anyway, cheers to the good professor. In my best crystal...
Q: How are you liking your vacation so far?
A: I'm loving it! Nope, sounds like perfectly grammatical English to me. |