Gizoogle

Confused?

Well why don't you just go and see what gizoogle means?

Put a web address into the search box and see your favourite web site change into a new variety of English.

Affronted by this disrespect for English?

Well, who owns it anyway?



In the UK, some people think the Queen owns it.
Which is absurd of course.


Also people have talked about the BBC being in charge of the rules.
Right from the start the BBC set itself up as a model of ettiquette in many ways, and the globalisation of the BBC meant that its way of pronouncing words became standardised in many places. But politics have changed and more varieties of English are now appreciated on the BBC, although there is clearly a protocol observed and one of Radio 4s key Today Programme journalists has written in an authoritarian (not authoritative) way about language use.

I am beginning to wonder if Microsoft now has a strong stake - not just in spelling, but also grammar. (What is it with Microsoft and that whole 'which' / 'that' thing? With Microsoft staking a claim in nearly all technological writing, its spell and grammar checks are bound to be influencing us all.



Deborah Cameron has pointed out the absurdity as well as the inevitability and even usefulness of snobbery around language.

But I reckon everyone should just chill. Variety is the spice of life and I don't believe people when they say they cannot understand 'poorly formed English'. It is sometimes just a poorly disguised form of prejudice about race, ethnicity or social class. Check out Labov, that's what I say.

Have fun on Gizoogle.
And thanks a zillion to Rosa for telling me about Gizoogle.