What you and so many others who applaud descriptivists’ positions fail to realize is that many so-called prescriptive rules are not “rules” at all, but are merely *stylistic suggestions*. There is, for instance, no “rule” against splitting an infinitive, nor has there ever been. There has merely been a suggestion that split infinitives are inelegant and unnecessary (I happen to agree).

The descriptivists, filled with resentment (were their knuckles rapped by grammarian nuns too often when they were children, I wonder, and is descriptive linguistics their form of revenge?) and an inexplicable emotional rage (witness Pinker’s far-from-logical *ad hominem* remarks about John Simon, for instance), have created a straw man with their ridiculous confusion of style manuals with prescriptive grammar books. The fact that their favorite *bete noire*, Strunk and White’s *Elements of Style*, even explicitly contains the word *style* in its title says all that needs to be said about the intellectual honesty and competence of many descriptive linguists.

To which I reply… Jar Jar Binks!

Skuds – that’s true, yeah – I’m sure I’ll continue trying to say ‘Bob and me’ ‘correctly’ for that reason. Apparently the French language authorities make regular stern pronouncements, all of which are cheerfully ignored by the French public

Anyway, while agree with the sentiments of what you are quoting, there is one thing to remember: all language is a tool for communicating. Teenage txt slang or leetspeak might look stupid to someone like me, but they enable two teenagers to communicate what they want perfectly – with the bonus for them that a lot of others won’t follow it. Where you have to be careful is in making sure your choice to break rules does not communicate the wrong thing.

You might think you are communicating the fact that you have such a deep understanding of the rules that you know when and how to break them for maximum effect, but do it in a job application and the message received might be that you don’t know the rules, and it might be received by someone who thinks that is important. I’m just trying to imagine someone writing a loan application in the style of James Joyce

At least we are not as bad as the French who try to enforce proper grammar by law!