Learning the rules of language is important, otherwise it can be pretty difficult to communicate effectively. But if you’re hung up on perfect form and accuracy you can end up impeding your own creativity and the development of language in general.
In Matthew Rogers’ hypnotic video (above), Stephen Fry argues that the enjoyment of language is far more important than pedantic accuracy. Playing with words, and even creating new ones, is what makes language great. Seeing these new developments as new possibilities for, rather than casualties of, writing and speech offers more freedom and creativity in how you communicate. We should still aim to write well and communicate clearly, but choose our battles of language wisely. Personally, I can say my life was a little less stressful the day I accepted the place of “texting” into the vernacular.
The video is a treat, but the full essay, Don’t Mind Your Language, is the meal.
Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography – Language [Matthew Rogers on Vimeo]
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