Reflections of a reformed grammar Nazi

The evolution of English is an unstoppable force and resisting its ‘dumbing down’ may be futile

It would be easy to write off the regular word salads of America’s 47th president as the increasingly incoherent ramblings of an elderly man in obvious mental and physical decline.

However, one can also argue that Trump’s seemingly dyslexic struggles with the English language reflect a deliberate disregard for grammar rules that resonates with his support base. It’s the level of language that up to half of Americans happily use and identify with, if you think about it.

Laugh if you will at his limited vocabulary, disrespect for formal syntax and contempt for punctuation, but they have never been detrimental to getting his message across as an effective public speaker and communicator.

His very lack of linguistic sophistication – simple words, short sentences, constant repetition, blunt delivery – makes maximum impact with minimum polish, grammar rules and hoity-toity talk be damned.

Trump’s dumbing down of the language is but a microcosm of a global shift towards hyper-simplified English usage, stripped bare of formalities and tuned to resonate on digital platforms. All without the encumbrance of archaic or arbitrary rules and the rigid structure that we are expected to adhere to without even remembering why we have to in the first place.