I've been mourning the disappearance of "en" lately. It seems that everywhere I turn, someone is saying or writing, "I had bit off more than I could chew" or "He had hid it in the basement." "Hidden" and "bitten" are rapidly disappearing from our language.
"Had bit" and "had hit" hurt my ears and likely the ears of other people who love words. But we have to face the fact that language changes. In another generation or two, "hidden" and "bitten" will probably sound as ancient and quaint as "wouldst" and "thou" and "whence" do to us today. That's not necessarily a bad thing, despite all the "What's this world coming to?" thoughts that pop into my head.
I'm also trying not to be such a fuddy-duddy about "me and my friends." After all, just this week I was reading a book by a woman whose writing I really admire, and there it was: Me and my friends used as the subject of a sentence. Multiple times. I have to face the fact that "me and my friends" has become mainstream. It's everywhere.
I admit that I have to fight snotty little thoughts that pop into my mind, thoughts like, "It's symbolic of the pampered generation that is now doing most of the writing in our culture. Me always comes first. And no one can be bothered learning the difference between nominative and objective case. I swear, language is going to hell in a handbasket."
Of course someone else might look at the thought I just wrote and say, "Who is she to talk? She's using a cliche. And what the heck is a handbasket anyway? This woman needs to move into this century!"
And that person would be right. I do need to ground myself more firmly in this century. I should not use cliches. I should not mention a handbasket when I have no idea what a handbasket even is.
But if I should ever run across a handbasket, you can be very sure that anything I hide in it will remain "hidden," not "hid."
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