It's been a long time since I've discovered that people err even when they criticize the errors of others. Now it occurs to me to criticize the linguistic errors of a critic of linguistic errors. My intention is to take as an example not the ordinary Joe, but the Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek.
In his last book, Hayek titled one of the chapters "Our Poisoned Language". At first glance I see two errors:
1. A basic linguistic error is to uncritically anthropomorphize. In this case, the language cannot be poisoned, it is the specific user who is (or is not).
2. Another common linguistic error is to uncritically privatize. Our language, our party, our motherland, our Mother Earth. A small language error triggers an avalanche of errors: we think of the flora, fauna, land, water, and air as truly ours, and we treat them as we please.
Let's finish aphoristically:
With 3 words a great mind can produce 2 errors. We, ordinary people, need much more words to do that.
In his last book, Hayek titled one of the chapters "Our Poisoned Language". At first glance I see two errors:
1. A basic linguistic error is to uncritically anthropomorphize. In this case, the language cannot be poisoned, it is the specific user who is (or is not).
2. Another common linguistic error is to uncritically privatize. Our language, our party, our motherland, our Mother Earth. A small language error triggers an avalanche of errors: we think of the flora, fauna, land, water, and air as truly ours, and we treat them as we please.
Let's finish aphoristically:
With 3 words a great mind can produce 2 errors. We, ordinary people, need much more words to do that.
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