Reply #38: I don't think the difference between colloquial and formal English

[XemaSab]

is as broad as it has been in times past.

For example, compare the dense prose of Henry James or Jane Austin with the colloquial English spoken by poor people in the South during those times. If one was only familiar with formal English, the colloquial English might even be mistaken for another language.

Most "street" English is clearly recognizable as the same language as is found in the New Yorker, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, or whichever publications are our modern paragons of proper usage.

I worry that dismissing formal English as a relic while making excuses for informal English merely serves to create a social expectation of low standards. I think everyone should be taught formal English as a norm, and if people wish to play with the rules after having learned them, then so be it.