We were honoured to host 'Should I Write a Book? Navigating Academic Publishing in Arts & Humanities'. As part of the Fashion in Action event series, Prof Hazel Clark from @TheNewSchool, @RobDrummond and @KathrynHurlock shared their journeys as published academic authors.
Only quote-tweeting because it’s an interesting point of discussion. @ross_baglin - do you have any evidence that a ‘deterioration’ in language standards will lead to a general decline in other areas of life?
@KendoJohannes The speech reflects the usage convention. And the BBC then rendered it as “should of”, unsurprisingly. This does matter. If standards like this deteriorate among those in power, things will continue to get steadily worse across many facets of life.
@HTawfiq1 You’ve seen small businesses fail because staff don’t know the difference between ‘should have’ and ‘should have’ (and similar)?! Or are you taking about people with English as a second/third language and it isn’t strong?
And before you ask ‘but why should I be the one that makes the effort?’, the answer is that they are already making a huge effort because they aren’t the ones whose way of speaking happens to be privileged.
Or, we make an effort to be better at listening. Accentless speech is an oxymoron - what people mean is an accent closer to their own. I’m not saying that some speech isn’t hard to understand, but when people have the mindset: ‘I’m not going to understand this’ then they won’t.
Probably very Non U but I'm really tired of getting through to various Call Centres where the operator speaks heavily accented English to the point one cannot understand them. When dealing with the Public surely a clear, non accented, speaking voice should be the prime requisite
How do publisher style guides get made/decided? I'm writing something in which all the '%' symbols need to be changed to 'per cent'. I'm not complaining, I'm just intrigued as to how that choice was discussed and decided. Genuine question.
What’s that? You’re stuck for gift ideas for a friend or relative who:
a) is intrigued by accents;
b) thinks some ways of speaking are better than others;
d) thinks Susie Dent, David Crystal, Ian McMillan, Chris Mason, and Simon Mayo know a good book when they see it?!
The start of a new academic year. Seems like a good time to remind students and teachers who are looking at spoken language and identity for the first time that this is available and very accessible! In all the usual places. Please leave a review if you can😁
Officially out today! The paperback edition of 'You're All Talk: Why we are what we speak'. Available in all the usual places. https://t.co/YpY8pGOn0m
With some kind words from @susie_dent, @davcr, @ChrisMasonBBC, @IMcMillan, @GylesB1 and Simon Mayo!
@RobDrummond This is such an excellent book. So relevant to their A level course, loads of great, practical examples of language in action and really engaging! I used some of your intro in my first year 12 lesson to introduce ideas around language and identity. Thanks so much!