The other day, I read the autobiography of Malala Yousufzai, titled "My Name is Malala". It is a good book, worth a read no doubt. But I am not commenting on or giving my review of the book, instead I am going to tell you what in the book impressed me the most.
Just a very brief description: Malala Yousufzai is a citizen of Pakistan, which is hugely dominated and influenced by the Talibani terrorist base. Under the rule of the Taliban, the social status of women in Pakistan deteriorates from bad to worse. They do not enjoy political freedom and are not given a chance to voice their opinions. Such was the condition of women in Pakistan. During the Taliban attacks, Malala was asked to describe the conditions of the people and especially that of girls during such troubled times. She began a blog to broadcast her experiences. She got a worldwide audience and because of her words, the world came to know of the plight of Pakistani people.
The same applied for the people of Germany after World War I. Germany was in dire straits and was reeling under economic burden. The people of German people needed hope. They needed someone to assure them that everything would be okay. And in came Hitler, with his booming voice and encouraging words. He assured the German masses that he would secure a bright future for Germany. His words moved people into action.
Words are powerful weapons which we all wield so ably. They have immense power in them, capable of inflicting injury and remedying it. The concept of words can be considered as the mark of evolution which humans bear and animals don't. We can express our ideas and opinions through words. We can make the world aware of what we think just by typing in a few words.
Alright, so people started making words to make their conversations more meaningful and easier. This process continued and different languages cropped up in the world. Language is a very important part of our lives and I believe, all of us must strive to perfect it. Yes, that means you MUST have impeccable grammar and good enough vocabulary to understand obscure words and phrases and use them as well, (to show-off, too, I might add).
Perfect language requires perfect pronunciation and perfect grammar. I was fortunate enough to have a great English teacher who emphasized on this issue and I took such stuff up with gusto. Yes, I became a Grammar Nazi. Correcting people when they used wrong prepositions or when their subject-verb agreement was off - that was my job. Yes, it infuriated people to no end, and I was branded a show-off and know-it-all (which I am, by the way), but I always failed to understand, why won't these idiots just speak the proper way!? Humans make mistakes, but only dumbfucks repeat them! Why is it so hard for people to just correct their mistakes when they are told that they are wrong, and when they are even given the right answer!? These thick-headed people, damn...
Also, a lot of people harbour this unreasonable adamancy of sticking to whatever they "like" to say even though they know it is wrong. Some might call it pride or ego, I prefer sticking to the simpler word of stupidity. Generally, this does NOT apply to grammar rules, but to pronunciation. People consider pronunciation to be trivial and a more ignorable concept of a language, but can I tell you, these people are wrong. Perfect pronunciation is a must to understand the... tone of the language, to get a feel for it. My English teacher was a stickler for perfect pronunciation. If you misspoke a word, you had to repeat it five times out loud, clearly and in the perfect way. Many people used to get irritated by her compulsion and obsessiveness for perfection, but I never understood the reason for this annoyance. To attain perfection is impossible (I doubt it, but that is what society likes to hear, anyway), but to strive for it, to work hard for it is surely possible, isn't it? Then why shouldn't you?
Many politicians, leaders and all those people who are forced into oratorship to attract crowds for their publicity deliver speeches with tons of grammatical errors and bumbling and fumbling. The language of speech doesn't matter, what matters is how you deliver your speech and how much sense your speech makes. You don't need big words to attract crowds, you need good, simple language and good matter for that. People tend to ignore grammar rules while delivering speeches and that is great shame. What is worse, is that they are never made aware of it...
Being impeccable and immaculate in your speech is considered to be lesser in comparison with the actual matter of your speech. I don't disagree with this, but correctness of language is a must. It is an insult to the language if you do not follow proper grammar. It is because of the language that your ideas are being broadcasted to the people so why not respect the language and follow its rules?
Your thoughts define you, yes, but you need words, you need language to express yourself. When you are able to charge those words with your energy, your spirit, they become all the more powerful. Remember, there will always be grammar Nazis around, so always watch out while saying stuff out in the open. One mistake in your speech and boom. There it goes on the internet and your reputation takes a hit. This is not only on higher levels of business, industry, politics, etc. but also in school. So always keep in mind, do not ignore grammar, because there will ALWAYS be one of us lurking around. Just lying in wait for the right opportunity... We are the grammar Nazis, and if you speak wrong grammar, we will find you and we will ridicule you!
Perfect language requires perfect pronunciation and perfect grammar. I was fortunate enough to have a great English teacher who emphasized on this issue and I took such stuff up with gusto. Yes, I became a Grammar Nazi. Correcting people when they used wrong prepositions or when their subject-verb agreement was off - that was my job. Yes, it infuriated people to no end, and I was branded a show-off and know-it-all (which I am, by the way), but I always failed to understand, why won't these idiots just speak the proper way!? Humans make mistakes, but only dumbfucks repeat them! Why is it so hard for people to just correct their mistakes when they are told that they are wrong, and when they are even given the right answer!? These thick-headed people, damn...
Also, a lot of people harbour this unreasonable adamancy of sticking to whatever they "like" to say even though they know it is wrong. Some might call it pride or ego, I prefer sticking to the simpler word of stupidity. Generally, this does NOT apply to grammar rules, but to pronunciation. People consider pronunciation to be trivial and a more ignorable concept of a language, but can I tell you, these people are wrong. Perfect pronunciation is a must to understand the... tone of the language, to get a feel for it. My English teacher was a stickler for perfect pronunciation. If you misspoke a word, you had to repeat it five times out loud, clearly and in the perfect way. Many people used to get irritated by her compulsion and obsessiveness for perfection, but I never understood the reason for this annoyance. To attain perfection is impossible (I doubt it, but that is what society likes to hear, anyway), but to strive for it, to work hard for it is surely possible, isn't it? Then why shouldn't you?
Many politicians, leaders and all those people who are forced into oratorship to attract crowds for their publicity deliver speeches with tons of grammatical errors and bumbling and fumbling. The language of speech doesn't matter, what matters is how you deliver your speech and how much sense your speech makes. You don't need big words to attract crowds, you need good, simple language and good matter for that. People tend to ignore grammar rules while delivering speeches and that is great shame. What is worse, is that they are never made aware of it...
Being impeccable and immaculate in your speech is considered to be lesser in comparison with the actual matter of your speech. I don't disagree with this, but correctness of language is a must. It is an insult to the language if you do not follow proper grammar. It is because of the language that your ideas are being broadcasted to the people so why not respect the language and follow its rules?
Your thoughts define you, yes, but you need words, you need language to express yourself. When you are able to charge those words with your energy, your spirit, they become all the more powerful. Remember, there will always be grammar Nazis around, so always watch out while saying stuff out in the open. One mistake in your speech and boom. There it goes on the internet and your reputation takes a hit. This is not only on higher levels of business, industry, politics, etc. but also in school. So always keep in mind, do not ignore grammar, because there will ALWAYS be one of us lurking around. Just lying in wait for the right opportunity... We are the grammar Nazis, and if you speak wrong grammar, we will find you and we will ridicule you!
No comments:
Post a Comment