Okay, I know it’s silly but on occasion, I get into correcting grammar in the YouTube comments.
Yes, yes, silly, silly.
But I thought this warranted a mention.
A lady commented that I was ‘gatekeeping’ the English language from the rest of the non-native speakers.
It struck me as both an odd and obvious thing to say.
Of course, when you have a literary and historical connection with one of the most beautiful languages in the world, naturally you want it to be used properly, I certainly do. Of course, it is futile to get into these beefs in the comments but here’s the real lesson.
When you encounter a lot of people, they will not have the standards that you have, they will find it equally odd to find someone sticking up for their country and their language. And if you think about it, what is a simpler word for gatekeeping, why, it’s boundaries of course.
People don’t like that either and interestingly in a later comment, she informed me that, unlike me, most people in England are more progressive. I ask, is progressivism for progressivism’s sake necessarily a great thing?
Something to think about.