Let me start with a little English lesson. English has many homonyms, other languages also have many homonyms. Sometimes I try to wake people up to the fact that there are many words in their own language that sound just like something completely different in other languages.
I often have to think twice about the difference between “whose” and “who’s”. The apostrophe is normally a sign used to indicate “possession” in English (especially in the most common apostrophe+”s” form), and yet with both “who” and “it” — which are also both very common words — the apostrophe is used to indicate the contraction of “who is” and “it is”. Whatever — never mind.
But this excellently raises the topic I actually want to talk about — namely: who controls this language (or any language)?
A few weeks ago, I discussed the way Elon Musk seems to be coming across as if he were in control of something, but that he is actually not in control at all (see “What’s X?“). Indeed: for many years already, “twitter.com” has probably become the template case for showing how we the people are still in control of language. The string “twitter” no longer refers to an English word, it now simply means something like “a platform for propaganda“. You might still argue that those two meanings are perhaps not very different from one another, yet if you also add in the “bot” activity and also other bullshit such as check-marks and advertising (which was “kicked off” by Opra Winfrey and similar celebrity / star engagements, including recommendations and similar “influence”), the whole business was really nothing short of a farce long before Elon Musk supposedly paid some money for it.
I think the string “twitter” may have now left the English lexicon forever.
A part of our language may very well have been sold to a corporation in Silicon Valley .. and did you or I get a single penny? I know I didn’t. I also have even more egregious examples up my sleeve; if you want to learn a little bit more, then let’s chat over a cuppa coffee or a glass of wine or whatever.
For now, I would like to stay focused on our language.
When I refer to literacy, I usually wish to draw attention (at least in part) to the fact that many people still need to acquire skills in order to be adequately skilled in differentiating between language and such crap as trademarks, brand names, etc.
Beyond that, I also feel responsible for the languages I use (see e.g. “Sparring for Literacy” [ https://wants.blog/2023/12/03/sparring-for-literacy ] ) … and beyond that, that we all should feel responsible for the languages we feel we share. These languages are our responsibility (or at least one of many responsibilities). We should not allow some government to take away any part of our language and give it to some private corporation to use as they please … at their sole discretion.
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