Rules or myths?

Most of us think of dictionaries as authoritative. Whether we are playing Scrabble or just writing a letter, we look to a dictionary, whether online or in print, to tell us how words are spelled, what they mean and even whether they are really words at all.

Yet those who put dictionaries together, if they are any good, look upon the rest of us as the authorities. That is, dictionaries don't dictate what's right or wrong about words. Instead they reflect how words are actually used, what the people who use them mean by them and how most people spell them.

Linguists, if they are any good, do much the same thing. Consider Anne Curzan, a professor at the University of Michigan and the author of Says Who? (2024).

As her title suggests, she doesn't think the traditional language experts are necessarily correct. This is especially true of our English teachers back in the day who chastised us for putting prepositions at the end of sentences or splitting infinitives.

In chapter after chapter, all written with a light touch, Curzan attacks the myths of proper language usage. Her subtitle even includes the word funner, certain to drive a lot of know-it-alls crazy.

Don't get the idea that anything goes with Anne Curzan. The important thing about language is always communicating what you have to say. If the other person doesn't understand what you're saying, you must be doing something wrong. So some language guidelines are necessary.

Yet different standards apply in different situations. You write differently than you talk. Usages that might be fine in a text or email might be out of line in a formal letter or a term paper. She even argues that aesthetics are important. How does it look on the page?

When Curzan uses the word "rule"  she normally puts it in quotation marks, as I just did. Some rules are just suggestions to her. Others are just myths. Whatever works for you works, she seems to be saying. This is your language. You are the authority.