Your generation has started using a previously existing word in a new way: you have changed the meaning, and some of the other linguistic features of the word.

You use the word with the newer meaning in an online post. When you check your comments, you find an angry comment from a prescriptivist who read your post: she says you have 'misunderstood' the meaning of the word, and that by 'mis-using' it you are 'destroying the language'.

What would be a fair and reasonable response to the issues she raises? Choose the best answer, below.

Question

Your generation has started using a previously existing word in a new way: you have changed the meaning, and some of the other linguistic features of the word.

You use the word with the newer meaning in an online post. When you check your comments, you find an angry comment from a prescriptivist who read your post: she says you have 'misunderstood' the meaning of the word, and that by 'mis-using' it you are 'destroying the language'.

What would be a fair and reasonable response to the issues she raises? Choose the best answer, below.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Question restatement: You coined a new meaning for a word and a prescriptivist accuses you of misusing it and destroying the language. Which response is best?

Option 1: 'Standard languages and the languages of highly educated people do normally stay the same across generations, even over centuries for languages like Latin or Greek; but sub-standard forms and ‘slang’ regularly do change. I happen to speak a less educated form of the language, but that doesn’t mean I am ‘bad’, just ‘different’!' 
- This option acknowledges variation and distinguishes between prestige varieties and non-standard forms, which is a common sociolinguistic view. However, it frames the issue primarily in terms of education level and eschews a direct defense of language change as a property of all languages. It’s reasonable but not the most precise answer to the question about the fair and reasonable response to a prescriptivist’s critique.

Option 2: 'Prescriptivists are focused on diachronic issues exclusively. She needs to consider phonotactics!'
- This claim inaccurately characterizes prescriptivists as only worrying about historical change. In fact, prescriptivists often focus on current usage and norms, not just diachrony, and phonotactics is only one aspect of language structure. The sentence also shifts from a general defense of change to a narrow, technical suggestion, which makes it less suitable as a fair and reasonable response to a social critique.

Option 3: 'Languages have always and will always change. If that’s ‘wrong’, then every modern language (and every language ever, except the first human language) must be ‘wrong’. '
- This option presents a broad, defensible stance: language change is inherent and continuous. The logical consequence—if change implies error, then all languages would be erroneous—is a persuasive, philosophically grounded rebuttal to rigid prescriptivism. It aligns with a descriptivist view that change is natural, not inherently corruptive, making it a strong and fair response here.

Option 4: 'Prescriptivists describe, descriptivists make judgements.'
- This sentence flips the roles: prescriptivists prescribe rules while descriptivists describe usage. It appears to conflate or invert roles, creating conceptual confusion. As a reply to the accusation, it’s muddled and does not clearly argue why new meanings are acceptable, reducing its effectiveness.

In summary, option-by-option reasoning shows that the strongest, most coherent defense against the prescriptivist critique is the idea that language change is inevitable and universal, which is captured in option 3. The other choices offer helpful nuanced points in some contexts (option 1) but do not directly counter the prescriptive critique as effectively, while options 2 and 4 mischaracterize prescriptivism or misuse key concepts, weakening their argumentative impact.

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