This is a good instance of our witnessing language changing around us,
and it presents a fine opportunity for the linguistically savvy teacher
to discuss language change with students. Language evolves in about the
same way that species do, only at a much faster rate, so we have the
opportunity to witness noticeable change occur during our lifetimes.
Because we English teachers have the task of instructing students in
standard usage, it is easy for us to adopt the mindset of guardians of
language purity. As such, we may fall into the trap of thinking of good
English as fixed, when the history of our language shows it is in
constant flux. It is amusing to read complaints by earlier generations
of elders about usages that are now perfectly standard. Ben Franklin (to
give one of countless similar examples) lamented the newfangled use of
nouns as verbs in to notice, to advocate, to progress, to oppose; today
these are all standard and beyond reproach.
Right now fun is becoming widely used as an adjective. It will continue
to offend some ears of the older generation (and so at this point can
accurately be labeled as "colloquial") but if most students see it as
standard, it's surely on the road to becoming so. Our own concerns about
fun as adjective will probably seem as quaint in a generation or two as
Franklin's concerns do today.
Dick Veit
________________________
Richard Veit
Department of English, UNCW
Wilmington, NC 28403-5947
910-962-3324
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul T. Wilson
Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2004 5:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Funner
Dear Unfunners,
Here at WMU, perhaps as an index of how high our learning actually
is, I hear (endure) my students say things all the time like, "That
party was so much funner than the other one," and, "It was the
funnest!" and, just recently, "What was more funner?" These are
evolutionary steps beyond, "It was so fun!" which has been more
frequenter here in Michigan for ca. 10 years.
Definitely unfun for me to listen to, but when the comparative and
superlative forms and the 'more' intensified comparative form are
part of the daily lingual fracas, you just get labelled as a fun
sucker (no double entendre intended by undergrad speakers) if you
even mention it. So I've given up on this one; complaining and trying
to re-direct through instruction is the least funnest than it used to
be.
Oral language: More funner than ever!
PW
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