More Bad Language

I wonder sometimes how people manage to qualify as TV announcers. One actually said roofless the other day when referring to the Virginia Tech university shootings. He obviously meant ruthless. I have great sympathy for anyone who has a speech impediment, but I don't think that was the case in this instance. The announcer was just lazy. It's called Estuary English and it has taken over most of southern England., since the soap 'East Enders' started. The diversity of dialects that enriched the English language is being lost. I like Cockney, but Estuary English is most definitely not Cockney. There are similarities, but Cockneys really speak well. They may drop their aitches, but in my experience most of their pronunciation is accurate. In fact if you watch some of the films from the fifties, which are admittedly not the best examples, the Cockneys speech is similar to the posh people’s, just peppered with rhyming slang. My point is that the media are not setting a good example and we are all the poorer for it. Manglinq the language leads to misunderstanding; misunderstanding fuels prejudice and bigotry. It is not 'Politically Correct' to criticize, but without criticism how can you improve. Everyone feels that they are right, except me (grin), but nobody is perfect. We can all use a little constructive criticism occasionally.