--- On Wed, 25/11/09, Radhika, Y. <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Radhika, Y. <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [silk] Why is Indian English so floral? > To: [email protected] > Date: Wednesday, 25 November, 2009, 11:30 > Hear, hear, Shiv! Why do we always > apologize for our florid language, our > accent(s) and all the variety and musicality we bring to > English! the worst > of this attitude is evident in how we ridicule regional > variations when we > ought to revel in them. Vive la difference! > > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 8:27 PM, ss <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > On Wednesday 25 Nov 2009 12:26:19 am divya manian > wrote: > > > You have, er, hit the nail on the head. English > is taught using old, > > > archaic texts (some schools still teach > Shakespeare for "non-detailed > > > text"). Wren and Martin is still standard issue > grammar, and kids are > > > still being taught to "write a letter". The more > floral, the better it > > > is. > > > > When Americans "mauled" English and made it their own > - they did not worry > > about what was proper English > > > > When the Aussies did that - again there was no such > worry. > > > > English speakers from "the provinces" such a > Lancashire, Yorkshire or even > > from the heartland (Cockney) speak barely intelligible > gibberish. > > > > But is is only Indians who seek to mimic a particular > variant of spoken > > English and virtually haul over the coals other > Indians who are unable to > > conform. > > > > This has been described as the mind of the > Macaulayputra - or a colonized > > mind. There is, of course another linguistic > explanation - fractal > > recursivity. > > > > > > shiv
And is there nobody to speak for the fractally cursed and recursed? So be it then; let the entire band of the Macaulay-born die in silence. If they had a voice in your counsels, they might point to the excessive use of adjectives and adverbs, never using none, but adding one, and never using one, but multiplying it to many, the misuse of metaphor, when a plain sentence or a plain expression would do very well, and to a serious disconnect between what the floriculturally challenged write and what they speak. Think about it. Finally, think of the decline of the compound sentence.
