Words, Words, Words: An insider's reflections on BBC broadcasting about English. (12th August 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Elmes, Simon
• Is Part Of: English today. Volume 31:Part 3(2015:Sep.)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2015-08-12
• Subjects: English language -- Periodicals; 420.5
• DOI: 10.1017/S0266078415000176
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0266-0784

Abstract

Abstract : It's difficult to imagine the relatively civilised, slightly worn corridors of London's old Broadcasting House, headquarters of the BBC, as being the frontline in a war. No trenches; no barbed wire; not a sign of battle-fatigue to be seen … Yet here whizz-bangs are almost as frequent as they were at the Somme. For frontline this indeed is; a place where battle-royal is pitched between the opposing camps of linguistic orthodoxy and originality. The spot where, like a pair of weirdly-named opponents from Gulliver's Travels, the Descriptivists do battle with the Prescriptivists.