While I was watching the WordCamp Miami 2017 livestream and sharing highlights on Twitter, I watched a slew of tweets go by about language and texting.
The tweets caught my attention because they used the same hashtag.
And because the tweets reminded me of my conversation about language and words with Anne Curzan after her TEDxUofM talk a few years ago.
That’s when I discovered Curzan was speaking at the 2017 American Copy Editors Society national conference (ACES17) at the same time as WordCamp Miami morning sessions.
Who is Anne Curzan?
Curzan is a linguistics professor at the University of Michigan (my alma mater). She’s an author and host of the That’s What They Say radio program where she talks about grammar and new words.
I happen to love lingustics, studied it in both high school and college. Curzan has a fun way of explaining word origins, how we use words, and how language changes over time.
When I spoke with her a few years ago, we found a common interest: our love of the book Frindle by Andrew Clemens.
Language, Texting, and Going Grammando
I couldn’t tear myself away from the WordCamp sessions. But I managed to capture a few tweets from Curzan’s talk about words, language, and going grammando.
Are you wondering what going grammando
means?
You may have heard of grammar nazi
, the phrase used to describe someone who knows a lot about language usage and corrects other people’s grammar.
Going grammando combines grammar and commando. It describes the same behavior, without the reference to Nazis.
Here’s some of the social conversation during Curzan’s keynote.
#ACES2017 keynote speaker Anne Curzan loves the word “grammando,” “not least because it’s a replacement for ‘grammar Nazi'” pic.twitter.com/2BjQPJYI8o
— Kaitlyn Jakola (@KaitlynJakola) March 25, 2017
To do: adopt the phrase “go grammando on someone.” Anne Curzan, keynote speaker at #ACES2017. pic.twitter.com/XExLizpAD3
— Betty Ann Bardell (@BettyAnnBardell) March 25, 2017
Anne Curzan: “It is respectful to use the pronoun people prefer. Whether ‘they’ can function as singular is not debatable.” #ACES2017
— Sarah Grey (@GreyEditing) March 25, 2017
“As a linguist, I don’t usually try to win these things, but this one I want to win.” —Anne Curzan on singular “they” #ACES2017
— Jonathon Owen (@ArrantPedantry) March 25, 2017
“Any linguist who says they know what the internet is going to do to the English language is lying.” –Anne Curzan #ACES2017
— Madam Grammar (@MadamGrammar) March 25, 2017
Anne Curzan shows how college-age folks distinguish in texting among:
okay (okay)
okay. (angry)
okay… (skeptical)
K (we’re done!)
#ACES2017— James M. Fraleigh (@jamesfraleigh) March 25, 2017
Creating tighter, clearer, and more beautiful prose is more important than creating “correct” prose. –Anne Curzan #ACES2017
— Jill (@jillysull) March 25, 2017
Curzan: Editors are the people at the front line deciding what spoken words can be written the way we say them. #ACES2017
— Kate Everson (@EversonKate) March 25, 2017
❌ Correct English
✔ Formal, standard, edited English
— Anne Curzan #ACES2017— Heather E. Saunders (@H_E_Saunders) March 25, 2017
We tend to frame “correct English, when what we mean is formal, standard, edited English.” Anne Curzan #ArtofthePossible #ACES2017 pic.twitter.com/mUYV45xgqQ
— Christian Wilkie (@CWWilkie) March 25, 2017
Debate about a lot of language is not whether we can use it, but whether we can write it down, says Anne Curzan. #ACES2017
— Madam Grammar (@MadamGrammar) March 25, 2017
We look at texting and say, this is chaotic. It’s not chaotic at all; punctuation has been repurposed. –Anne Curzan #ACES2017
— Frannie Sprouls (@Frannie_Sprouls) March 25, 2017
Anne Curzan: “The game is to master these conventions.” Whether formal or txt language, you get social gains. #ArtOfThePossible #ACES2017
— Barbie Halaby (@MonocleEd) March 25, 2017
“Good” English depends on the form, context and audience, says Anne Curzan, so calling something “wrong” often isn’t helpful. #ACES2017
— Madam Grammar (@MadamGrammar) March 25, 2017
Anne Curzan tells editors at #ACES2017: You are at the front lines of deciding whether we can write something down
— S Burzynski Bullard (@suebb) March 25, 2017
Anne Curzan actually has a guide to text etiquette (punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations); she said she’ll share. #ACES2017
— Madam Grammar (@MadamGrammar) March 25, 2017
Texting has repurposed punctuation. Periods = angry or skepticism says Anne Curzan #ACES2017 pic.twitter.com/V0xAY0h7D8
— Teresa Schmedding (@tschmedding) March 25, 2017
Curzan thinks a different approach toward teaching grammar usage, where students are taught to compare usage guides and discuss whether to adopt the usage, would make grammar easier to understand.
Read her latest post, The Fun of It, where she describes her approach.
