Mike Alpha
S30E22 Firing Line w/ William F. Buckley “Should We Regulate the Use of Words?” guest Steven Pinker “The Language Instinct”. Taped: July 11, 1995, Air Date: August 6, 1995
Program details: Mr. Pinker’s new book had infuriated linguistic conservatives–among whom, count WFB–but in this relaxed conversation, host and guest agree as much as they disagree. SP: “All innovations, all words have to come from somewhere. Someone has to be the first person to use a word. They weren’t handed down by a committee. And that means that all words at some point must have been slang, and words like ‘mob,’ ‘bully,’ ‘sham,’ ‘jazz,’ all were decried as horrible violence against the language…. If I was to say, ‘It’s been groovy rapping with you,’ I would be embarrassing myself. And so in any judged, precise use of language, you have to develop an ear for what is likely to be durable and what is likely to be ephemeral.”
Transferred and uploaded from my collection of old VHS tapes.
Program details ref: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6m3nc88c/entire_text/
Source
Thinks!
10:20
I was really hoping Buckley would close out saying "It's been really groovy rapping with you".
"Well, rapping is durable, groovy hasn't yet proved out I think, I think there's been a retreat from groovy." There's something comical about hearing William F Buckley pronounce that sentence.
I'm surprised that Pinker suggests that the word hopefully, as commonly used, means "everyone hopes" rather than "I hope." He who says "hopefully I'll get the job" clearly intends to say that he himself hopes he gets the job, not that everyone hopes he does. Certainly the other applicants don't. The common use of hopefully is wrong because the word means "full of hope" (just as the word prideful means "full of pride"). Then again, words can have more than one meaning.
Is there a reason this episode is shorter than normal for Firing Line?
Canada's Bill C-16 anyone?
The St. James Bible? You need brushin' up there, Bill.