Prescriptive grammar has spread linguistic insecurity like a plague among English speakers for centuries, numbs us to the aesthetic richness of non-standard speech, and distracts us from attending to genuine issues of linguistic style in writing.
John H. McWhorterThe only way that residual racist feelings could affect legislation, in my opinion, is through a lack of priorities, from not doing things.
John H. McWhorterPeople have been warning us that language was going to the dogs ever since Latin started turning into French. Yet the dogs in question never seem to emerge yelping on the horizon.
John H. McWhorter