I take particular interest in the understanding that what is considered good English is completely dependent upon the situation in which it is used. By seemingly dissmissing all set "criterion" of what make up good English, what are we left with other than that which serves us best in communicating, the very essence of language.
All of us have taken English courses at some point in our education and especially here at Allegheny we are drilled with the finer nuances of English grammar, usage, and word choices. It is sometimes hard to forgot that this training is for the most part useful only in professional and academic settings. The notion put forth by Robert Pooley that says good usage is determined by "choices that are the least distracting to the fewest number of people" is intriguing to me. I feel like this kind of flies in the face of the language snobbery we have become so ingrained to feel. To this extent, I personally agree with Charlton Laird who said "good usage requires wide knowledge and tasteful discrimination". Therefore it's not necessarily the rules of English that we learn that really matter, but more so, social ettiquette and knowledge of ones surrounding.
Because "academic speak" has become commonplace in our lives, do we often seem condescending when speaking to others of lower education or status? What kind of exposure is best to acquire this "wide knowledge and tasteful discrimination"?