After I wrote in defence of the correct use English language, I received a few emails...
Mary Goddard writes: “Can you tell me when and how the word “kids” became the word to describe children and young people? I was taught at Great Whelnetham Primary School by Miss Darlow c. 1951 that kids were baby goats!”
Mary goes on to allege she is a “grumpy old woman.” Not at all, Mary. You’re simply right.
In similar vein Dorinda emails: “I am constantly infuriated by poor grammar and find myself correcting newsreaders on the TV (they don’t listen). My pet hate is the use of ‘they’ when the speaker means ‘he’ or ‘she’. I have always understood ‘they’ to indicate more than one person, so why is it used so much now for just the single person? I can only assume it is a form of political correctness to avoid inferring the sex of the person concerned. I don’t mind in the least having my sex inferred.” And there’s no answer to that, Dorinda.
More next week.
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