General Music Chat

A lot of people also use 'y'all' and 'ain't', that does not make them legitimate words.

Your request has been denied - a lot.

I think Japanese culture is pretty cool.

Some of it is cool, and some of it is messed up, at least where Western Thinking is concerned.

I think a lot of that depends on your perspective and preconceived ideas about things.

I'm pretty open minded about cultures. I don't know if that's typical of Agnostics/Atheists or not; maybe it's just me. But I find that stuff fascinating.

I know that to non-westerners, they think WE have some messed up culture too. Especially when it comes to sexuality. I was reading a thread on a message board where the question was posed, "Did you sleep with your husband/wife before you got married?" And to western folk - particularly Americans - this is a legitimate question. To people of other cultures it's absurd. They don't understand the prudish nature of Americans... If you study the world, we really are an absurdly prude country...

Personally, I think every culture has something to teach us, and has traits and characteristics and customs that we can (and probably should) incorporate into our daily lives.

I'd be really interested in experiencing a culture that was based solely on the idea of taking the best from every culture and incorporating it together. It would be interesting to see what that would be like.

A lot of people also use 'y'all' and 'ain't', that does not make them legitimate words.

Ok, but "Alot" is not a colloquialism or a slang term. It is FAR MORE common than the usage of "ain't" which is SLANG, and also "Ya'll" which is culturally identifiable.

People have rushed these two words "A" and "LOT" together, so that it has become as a single word. For that expression, it is necessary to use BOTH WORDS together. If we already have to use them BOTH TOGETHER, then make it a single word, and be practical about it.

You aren't thinking outside of a preconceived idea, to try it out and see how it works.

This phrase, spoken as a single word already, is so commonly used as a replacement for "often" that you will never get that genie back in the bottle. Then you have wasted hours, explaining to new users of the language how this is a very familiar term to EVERYONE, yet it is not "correct" in it's usage.

Why? Because a professor told us that?

Let's bring some democracy to language!

It makes FAR MORE SENSE to simply legitimize it, which has ALREADY been done popularly (you can even find it as a single word in Newspapers once in a while) than to be prudish, as if protecting some sacred cow.

Think about this as well...

It is so common, that writers would want to use it, when speaking naturally to a reader, but would avoid it, why? So a bunch of snobs don;t send them a hundred emails bitching about it? And then the people are deprived of an expression that is ALREADY accepted by the public.

We aren't talking about "Ain't" here.

This usage is not demeaning the language or degrading it. It would simply acknowledge the change that has ALREADY been adopted by the people.

You'll see it happen eventually.

A lot of people also use 'y'all' and 'ain't', that does not make them legitimate words.

It makes FAR MORE SENSE to simply legitimize it, which has ALREADY been done popularly (you can even find it as a single word in Newspapers once in a while) than to be prudish, as if protecting some sacred cow.

I want you to meditate on that essence of that sentence (minus the side note).
Then go sit in the corner.

Colors, I want to thank you for theoatmeal.com.
I love it!

Colors, I want to thank you for theoatmeal.com.
I love it!

My Pleasure!

/bow