Comments for Smoke Screen http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com English in India Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:32:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU Comment on Giving gay its due by Quirky Indian http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/giving-gay-its-due/#comment-19 Quirky Indian Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:18:12 +0000 http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/?p=60#comment-19 Trying to get people to take things less seriously is my blog's alleged raison d'etre.. .. I do enjoy playing with words - and I like to think that ratiocination is a strength of mine - so that works out fine! Trying to get people to take things less seriously is my blog’s alleged raison d’etre.. .. I do enjoy playing with words - and I like to think that ratiocination is a strength of mine - so that works out fine!

]]> Comment on Giving gay its due by asmokescreen http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/giving-gay-its-due/#comment-18 asmokescreen Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:40:33 +0000 http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/?p=60#comment-18 Thanks QI. I must caution you, though, not to take anything on this blog seriously. It's just largely irrelevant and cerebral ratiocination, playing around with words. :) Thanks QI. I must caution you, though, not to take anything on this blog seriously. It’s just largely irrelevant and cerebral ratiocination, playing around with words. :)

]]> Comment on Giving gay its due by Quirky Indian http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/giving-gay-its-due/#comment-17 Quirky Indian Sat, 05 Jul 2008 05:20:25 +0000 http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/?p=60#comment-17 I think your last sentence sums it up very well. And that is an important factor contributing to the spread and increased usage of English - it is a dynamic language, constantly evolving and co-opting words from other languages. Guess it also ties in with your earlier post, where, as you correctly pointed out, there is no "standard". I think your last sentence sums it up very well. And that is an important factor contributing to the spread and increased usage of English - it is a dynamic language, constantly evolving and co-opting words from other languages. Guess it also ties in with your earlier post, where, as you correctly pointed out, there is no “standard”.

]]> Comment on How Indian is my English? by asmokescreen http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/how-indian-is-my-english/#comment-16 asmokescreen Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:04:53 +0000 http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/?p=50#comment-16 Thanks for stopping by, Quirky Indian. And for the astute comment. You've heard the old joke about languages and dialects, right? That a language is a dialect with an army and a navy? :) English Departments in India do study (as in write research papers on) Indian English. But that's the irony - they study it; they don't actually use it. When teaching or writing, the Standard rules. Also, about this British-American debate: There is considerable variation in English (vocab, idiom and pronunciation) both across Britain and across the US. Which is something often overlooked when speaking of Standard British or Standard American. The point being that the standard is just another generalisation. It's not all that easy to draw the line between a variety and a standard. And, as a teacher of English, the struggle to draw this line is my personal hell. :) Thanks for stopping by, Quirky Indian. And for the astute comment.

You’ve heard the old joke about languages and dialects, right? That a language is a dialect with an army and a navy? :)

English Departments in India do study (as in write research papers on) Indian English. But that’s the irony - they study it; they don’t actually use it. When teaching or writing, the Standard rules.

Also, about this British-American debate:
There is considerable variation in English (vocab, idiom and pronunciation) both across Britain and across the US. Which is something often overlooked when speaking of Standard British or Standard American. The point being that the standard is just another generalisation.

It’s not all that easy to draw the line between a variety and a standard. And, as a teacher of English, the struggle to draw this line is my personal hell. :)

]]> Comment on How Indian is my English? by Quirky Indian http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/how-indian-is-my-english/#comment-15 Quirky Indian Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:35:56 +0000 http://asmokescreen.wordpress.com/?p=50#comment-15 Hmmmm. That was an interesting post. I completely buy your point that the "standard" is more a result of power-play; hence the growing acceptability and usage of American English, which, for the pundits of British English in India, is a bastard child. The power of American entertainment and business, though, has made sure that US spellings, colloquialisms and pronunciations are as prevalent today as the British ones. Will we ever arrive at an Indian standard? I'm not sure. The better (I think I'm being elitist here) academic institutions will continue to churn out people who will adhere to the British (increasingly mixed with American) standard. The rest will continue to create a bewildering number of variants, and that's the way it will be for a very, very long time. Loved the Ezekiel poem. I hadn't come across it before. Seems the most readily available poem of his is Night of the Scorpions. Cheers, Quirky Indian http://quirkyindian.wordpress.com Hmmmm. That was an interesting post. I completely buy your point that the “standard” is more a result of power-play; hence the growing acceptability and usage of American English, which, for the pundits of British English in India, is a bastard child. The power of American entertainment and business, though, has made sure that US spellings, colloquialisms and pronunciations are as prevalent today as the British ones.
Will we ever arrive at an Indian standard? I’m not sure. The better (I think I’m being elitist here) academic institutions will continue to churn out people who will adhere to the British (increasingly mixed with American) standard. The rest will continue to create a bewildering number of variants, and that’s the way it will be for a very, very long time.

Loved the Ezekiel poem. I hadn’t come across it before. Seems the most readily available poem of his is Night of the Scorpions.

Cheers,
Quirky Indian
http://quirkyindian.wordpress.com

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