Re: On prescriptions and misunderstanding: was can/may

MJR> It's very situational, but I do break it.  Especially in conjunction
SC> with "ain't".

SC> Okay, here's a case in point.  Was "ain't" part of your "native language"?
SC> Or was it acquired?  In my case, it was acquired, because no one in my
SC> family used the word "ain't."  I didn't even know what it meant when I
SC> encountered it in Mark Twain.

Definitely acquired.  Along with profanity, as you indicate, I picked it
up from my peers at school.  So in my case I guess "schoolboy English"
includes "ain't", whereas my natural language does not. :)

My background is not dissimilar to yours.  My mother was born in West
Virginia and raised in Detroit; my father was not only born but raised
in West Virginia, but once he had joined the military he worked hard to
avoid "sounding like a hillbilly".  He was transferred to Massachussetts
shortly after my parents were married, and that's where I was born, but
when I was two he was transferred to Georgia.  Subsequently my father
called in some favors, pulled some strings, and generally destroyed his
military career to make sure that he wasn't transferred again, as he
didn't want me to be a typical "military brat", always on the move, no
lasting roots in the community, etc.  So here in Georgia I stayed.
Somehow I never picked up much of a Southern accent, though.  Partly
that's because my parents didn't have one.  (Both of my parents are
very conscientious speakers who always used correct English, as yours
did.)

I suppose another reason I don't have much of a Southern accent is
because the town I grew up in, as a small town wrapped around a military
base, is something of a mecca of cosmopolitanness (hm; there must be
more Greekish inflection I could have used there) in what is otherwise a
pretty insular state.

I've always done well in English classes, despite having vocational
interests that mostly lay in a different direction.  I pursued a career
in computers, moving to Atlanta and majoring in computer science at
Georgia Tech, where I was something of an anomaly.  I'm one of those
balanced types who scored about the same on both halves of the SAT,
whereas most Tech students are more of the "790 math, 550 verbal"
variety.  SO I gravitated toward a group of friends who were likewise
unusually literary and fine-artsish for our surroundings - members of
the drama club (Tech has no drama major, but DramaTech is well-respected
in Atlanta) etc.

SC> Rather, I find that the affectations I've adopted (the foul language, for
SC> instance), along with the seepage into my grammar of expressions like
SC> "there's dogs at the vet" and "he laid on the bed" interfere with the
SC> "native" language I learned from my mother's lips.

The actual origins of the registers aside, "native" vs. "acquired", I
find the interference goes both ways.

SC> (Actually, I never consciously say "he laid on the bed"... but it's
SC> so prevalent that it may affect me eventually).

I hope not!  I'm a stalwart supporter of the lie/lay distinction.
Long may it outlive its utility!  :)

SC> But what if your prior generations spoke the "King's English," so to
SC> speak?  Something I've been apologizing for all my life.

That seems an odd thing to have to apologize for.

SC> It is actually the case, and I pointed this out in my last post,
SC> that we all come from different backgrounds, slide into different
SC> registers that we learn as we grow up, and that "native" is relative;

I agree.

SC> and that you are making perhaps too simple a demarcation between what we
SC> learn before we go to school and what we learn in kindergarten,

Perhaps I am.  Maybe I've just got _The_Language_Instinct_ on my brain
and am unconsciously trying to proselytize where it's not called for.

SC> The English language is like a globe . . .

[metaphor snipped]

SC> We agree that making class judgments is a bad thing.  An eximious
SC> achievement. :)  But the new question is whether you approve the metaphors
SC> I've presented above.

And presented well!  I do indeed agree.  Well put and thank you.

-Marcos