'Strong R' in Danger of Disappearing Across North of England, Study Finds

Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent, and our language – so the argument runs – must inevitably share in the general collapse.

The challenges English faced went beyond the technical ones. Colonial rule, which had been one of the chief vehicles for spreading English, was visibly breaking down. Decolonization would ultimately release more than six hundred million people from rule by Britain and the United States. Would they stick with English? Very likely not. Many complaine

It’s also pretty likely that, even if linguists come up with a more precise name for the phenomenon, it will be forever referred to in academic literature and conferences as “known in the wider population as the ‘crispy R.’” All from some TikToks.

Under American women’s influence, he insisted, language risks becoming a ‘generalised mumble or jumble, a tongueless slobber or snarl or whine’; it will sound like ‘the moo of the cow, the bray of the ass, and the bark of the dog’.

Bad English, whether to sell products or politicians, is abstract and clichéd—designed for the ear but not the intellect. Good English is concrete and alive—and at the same time informative and memorable.