8 - In Defense of the WebIn his review of my recently released book,
English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today's Global Language,* Dr. Isagani Cruz of De La Salle University posed this question: "Carillo likes [the web], though how he can stand it is beyond me, since the web is the worst place to find anything grammatical." ("English with only a few tears,"
BizNews Asia, February 21 to 28, 2005, issue). I would like to take this opportunity to answer that question.
The World Wide Web, as most of us already know, is that universal information space on the Internet that the simple point-and-click system of today’s computers makes accessible to us in the twinkling of an eye. There, we can access the vast, explosively growing body of information on all Internet servers that use the so-called hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). As the web’s inventor himself, Tim Berners-Lee, said, “a hypertext link can point to anything, be it personal, local or global, be it draft or highly polished.”
IMAGE CREDIT: PINTEREST.COMIf what is referred to is the personal or even that commercial part of the Web where bad English does abound in mournful numbers, then we probably would be justified in dismissing the web as “the worst place to find anything grammatical.” The web, like every well-stocked library and bookstore on our planet, has its own inordinate share of English-deficient content written by English-deficient content providers. But to dismiss the web simply for the English-language drivel that resides in it is most unfortunate, for it can forever blind us to the great learning opportunities offered by its huge and freely available knowledge resource.
My reasons for liking the web are too numerous to list down here, so I will only offer three from the standpoint of improving not only our English but the quality of our thinking as well: the
Arts & Letters Daily (
www.aldaily.com) of the Washington, D.C.-based Chronicle of Higher Education, the
Perseus Digital Library (
www.perseus.tufts.edu) of Tufts University, and the Massachusetts-based
Vocabula.com (
www.vocabula.com). If only for these three, I give my word that the web is not only tolerable but is, in fact, a pleasurable place to spend some time in.
Until I stumbled on
Arts and Letters Daily online about a year ago, I had to make do with trawling the web for the latest in critical thinking (not the garden-variety type found in most commercial media) by the most perceptive minds of our own time. This, of course, involved patiently trawling the individual websites of so many magazines and newspapers worldwide. With
Arts and Letters Daily, however, I now have regular, instant access to thousands of thought-provoking articles on language trends, literature, culture, history, art, and music from various respected media. It was in this site, for instance, where I discovered that while Lynne Truss’s book on English-language punctuation,
Eats, Shoots and Leaves, was dominating the nonfiction bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic, the New Yorker critic Louis Menand of Columbia University was bashing the book for its own glaring punctuation inconsistencies. In short, we get a democratic repertoire of actively thinking minds from this online site, the better for us to think out our own thoughts intelligently.
IMAGE CREDIT: EDUCATORSTECHNOLOGY.COMThe
Perseus Digital Library, on the other hand, is the place to go for the serious student of the humanities and science. Its current English-language content includes the Greco-Roman classics, major English Renaissance literature, and some outstanding works from later periods taken from the
Bolles Collection in London and the US Library of Congress. In this site, just to give two examples, one can enjoy the English poet Robert Browning’s 1877 English translation of
Agamemnon by the Greek playwright Aeschylus, then effortlessly move on to practically the whole body of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry. This site continues to grow and evolve, covering even more areas of interest as it attempts to bring a wide range of primary source materials to as large an audience as possible.
Finally, for the latest ideas on contemporary English usage, I think few sites on the web can match the monthly
Vocabula.com. Here, for a small membership fee, one can read provocative essays by such leading proponents of good English as Joseph Epstein, Richard Lederer, Mark Halpern, and Bill Casselman. I would like to add—if I may be allowed some self-advertisement—that
Vocabula.com has seen fit to include in its forthcoming March 2005 issue a chapter from my book
English Plain and Simple, “The Deadly Game of Corporatese.” That chapter will also form part of the maiden issue this May of the site’s quarterly print-edition anthology.
These, then, are what I consider the three best places on the web where good English as well as clear, insightful thinking can be found. I invite all those desirous of improving their English to pay them a visit soon.
(March 14, 2005)----------
*My book English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today’s Global Language was released in 2005, became a bestseller in its book category, and won the National Book Award for linguistics from the Manila Critics Circle that same year. The book came out with its third updated edition in September 2023 and is available in leading bookstores.
