Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person who believes that acceptable practices should be prescribed by an authority rather than be determined by the usage of the general public; especially, a supporter of prescriptive{2} rules of grammar; -- also used attributively, as
prescriptivist grammar.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Someone who lays down rules regarding language usage, or who believes that traditional norms of language usage should be upheld.
- adjective Having a tendency to
prescribe .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Likewise, to the dismay of us linguists, National Grammar Day will mostly just result in prescriptivist dilettantes coming out in full force, tossing around ignorant grammatical proclamations with gusto, like so many dimes at a dime toss.
National Grammar Day 2009: Ten Common Grammar Myths, Debunked « Motivated Grammar 2009
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This isn’t out of the ordinary for prescriptivists; hardly a month goes by without the Language Loggers pillorying some foolishly certain prescriptivist for breaking the very rule the prescriptivist was trying to impose.
(Almost) Zero Tolerance, and linearly separable blogrolls « Motivated Grammar 2009
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This isn’t out of the ordinary for prescriptivists; hardly a month goes by without the Language Loggers pillorying some foolishly certain prescriptivist for breaking the very rule the prescriptivist was trying to impose.
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(Also, non-prescriptivist is too agnostic a label.
Going to the kids with singular “they” « Motivated Grammar 2009
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I agree that ONE of the arguments offered by the prescriptivist is the "inversion" argument.
On all and all DC 2008
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I was raised a grammar and usage prescriptivist, which is sort of the grammar and usage equivalent of a colonial-era Calvinist.
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This kind of prescriptivist stance says that science fiction should only be the kind of thing Heinlein meant when he described sf as "realistic speculation about possible future events" (but he had aliens, the mundanistas will say, so what did he know ...).
MIND MELD: Today's SF Authors Define Science Fiction (Part 1) 2008
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Dear Norman, it really is not good enough to trot out descriptions such as prescriptivist as if they were pejoratives and to thus expect everyone to be dazzled by your pontification.
MercatorNet 2009
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I'm a "prescriptivist" only in the sense that I consider clarity important - as, clearly, you don't.
Pharyngula 2009
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I would encourage you all to withold judgement based on one quiz and read his essay based on this whole prescriptivist/descriptivist war which lays out his rationale for teaching students some of these rules that people disagree with.
Led astray by the no-split-infinitives fetish « Motivated Grammar 2009
john commented on the word prescriptivist
Not many of these around here, thankfully.
August 18, 2007
uselessness commented on the word prescriptivist
You need a verb in that sentence. Gosh.
August 20, 2007
arby commented on the word prescriptivist
A follower of the linguistic school of thought that says there is one true way to use language (usually the rules we are indoctrinated with in school) and that deviances from it in real life are wrong and should be frowned upon.
June 27, 2008
arby commented on the word prescriptivist
Antonym - descriptivist
June 27, 2008
dontcry commented on the word prescriptivist
Um, I have a prescription from my doctors (Drs. Yarb, Bilby, Reesetee and Palooka) that says I don't have to be prescriptivist this week 'cause of *turning red* um, deviant language problems...so...
June 27, 2008
dontcry commented on the word prescriptivist
snark
June 27, 2008
reesetee commented on the word prescriptivist
Heehee.
June 27, 2008