Language is not about a prescriptive or descriptive approach to it. It goes far beyond that. If descriptive grammar simply tells you about it, the prescriptive approach judges it. I am not taking sides when I point out grammar, syntax, vocabulary, or phonetics errors. Deep down, I could not care less. But language is all about communication, not about being right or wrong. It deals with how to convey ideas briefly, clearly, and easily. Transgressions against the established rules usually create confusion and misunderstandings.
As an example, of late I have been listening to Spanish politicians mishandling their language and creating havoc in the minds of the average citizen. Listening to them, it is clear they are educationally half-baked, tending to use bizarre syntax, making up strange neologisms, misquoting proverbs, and changing ready-made idiomatic expressions in a helter-skelter way. No wonder Spain is in a state of educational, intellectual, and emotional turmoil.
Language is mankind´s primary tool, the basic tool, and the foundation of everything. In language and communication, we can quote Thoreau who told us: "Simplify, simplify!" Cut to the chase and forget the rest of the chaff.
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