Random Rant #1: The Dumbing

If you look up the word cow on Merriam-Webster.com you will find two definitions: 1) a. the mature female of cattle, b. the mature female of various usually large animals (as an elephant, whale, or moose) and 2) a domestic bovine animal regardless of sex or age. Also if you look up the word library there are two pronunciations one – library (li-brer-e) and two – libery (li-ber-e).

Here comes the rant.

No, no, no, NO! I know my college English teacher would say that the spoken word is stronger than the written word (in regards to language) but does that make it OK to be stupid? For a long time people, who probably have never actually seen live cattle, have called both the males and females of that species cows. Is it because people like us, who know better and don’t want to be jerks, haven’t corrected them that now wrong is right?

Let me tell you something that you should already know, a male member of the bovine family is a bull. Look up the word bull on m-w.com and it will tell you “a male bovine; especially: an adult uncastrated male domestic bovine”. A reference book (or reference site) shouldn't have to contradict itself so wildly especially in the same entry. I’m not talking about one word having two meanings, this goes beyond contranyms. I’m talk about the fact that we, instead of educating people of the correct usage of the English language, have decided to dumb down everyone else by making the wrong usage acceptable. I don’t see how this is OK.

You can add new words to the language, you have to as a society grows and invents, but let’s not throw away the knowledge and language we have already acquired. I highly doubt that in the scientific community that a bull will ever be considered a cow. Isn't that what should be considered when defining words, how they are used by the people who deal in the subject matter and not how they are used by someone who is ignorant to the true terms and definitions?

(Don’t get me started on Barnyard the full-length animated movie in which Nickelodeon seems to think that bulls have utters. I can concede that it was done for the humor value but I can only hope that parents educated their kids on the fact that male bovine do not have utters and are called bulls.)

And in case you where wondering, library has two r(s) in it, two. Count them: one, two. Say them both! I have no idea what a libery is but I image it is something like a strawberry or a raspberry not someplace that you can check out books.

I am not going to dumb down for anyone. I don’t aspire to be stupid; never have and never will. I don’t care if the dictionary says it’s OK. And I invite you to declare the same. I will not call a bull a cow and I will say library (li-brer-e) never libery.

Thank you, rant complete.