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Quote by Charlton Laird

“The truth seems to be that they [teachers of grammar] were victims of a mighty hoax, one of those true belly-rumbling impostures which a workaday world can but seldom afford.”

Quote by Charlton Laird

Author

Charlton Laird (1901-1984) was a British novelist known for his distinctive literary style and profound insights into human nature. His works are typically set against the backdrop of social realism and explore themes such as class, gender, and power. more

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“Language is a living thing. It must survive in men's minds and on their tongues if it survives at all.”

Ifs Men Mind Language Tongue Living Things

Author:Charlton Laird

“You and I who read and write books have very little effect upon language. We may think about it, write about it, and read about it, but it goes on without us, or in spite of us.”

Thinking Writing May Littles Book Language Effects Goes On Spite

Author:Charlton Laird

“Babies and language are the essential ingredients of civilization, and speakers of language no more know where it came from than babies know where they come from.”

Knows Language Baby Civilization Essentials Ingredients Speakers

Author:Charlton Laird

“The great arbiters of language are the women who speak it in the presence of children... What the women pass on to the next generation is "right" and what they do not bother to pass on to their children sooner or later becomes "wrong.”

Children Next Speak Language Generations Bother Sooner Or Later Next Generation Arbiter

Author:Charlton Laird

“Jazz was formerly a crude term for indulging in an action which in polite society is referred to, if at all, only with such vague Latin terms as intercourse and cohabitation.”

Ifs Action Term Jazz Latin Vague Polite Intercourse Crude Cohabitation

Author:Charlton Laird

“Men in all societies possess the biological equipment to remove their hats or shoes, but it is the birth within a particular culture that decides that a Jew will keep his hat and shoes on in his place of worship, a Mohammedan will take off his shoes, and a Christian will keep his shoes on but remove his hat.”

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Book:MAN'S RISE TO CIVILIZATION

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“Speakers who have grown up in the American community unconsciously know its rules about taking turns in conversations-in the same way that they know the rules of grammar and the rules about appropriate speech in various situations.”

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Book:Word Play: What Happens When People Talk

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“An inability to communicate has little to do with international friction-as is seen in the special ferocity of wars fought between people who speak the same language.”

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Book:WORD PLAY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE TALK

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“Gestures and facial expressions do indeed communicate, as anyone can prove by turning off the sound on a television set and asking watchers to characterize the speakers from the picture alone.”

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“Language does not stand still. Surprisingly, despite this knowledge, most speakers are fearful of change.”

Doe Stills Language Change Despite Fearful Speakers

Book:WORD PLAY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE TALK

Source: WORD PLAY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE TALK