I'd Rather Be Writing » stephen fry

Stephen Fry iTunes Festival Keynote on Copyright and Music Piracy

Tom Johnson — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:45:44 +0000

It’s fascinating to listen to Stephen Fry. He’s an extremely eloquent British scholar, filmographer, literary critic, and who knows what else. Listening to Fry feels liberating and exhilarating at the same time. In this iTunes festival speech, he talks about the love of the art and music, and how, even if these lovers of art and music occasionally pirate content, the piracy should not earn them classification as thieves and criminals.

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The Pleasure of Language — Essential Listening for Hyper-corrective Grammarians

Tom Johnson — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:09:58 +0000

Stephen Fry on the pleasure of language

This podcast from Stephen Fry on language is one of the most entertaining, thought-provoking, well-read essays on language I’ve ever heard. In the podcast, Fry says he often encounters people who consider themselves high-minded grammarians, who assume he is on their side when they express their disgust of common grammar errors, such as “12 Items or Less” signs in grocery stories (rather than “fewer”), or misuses of “disinterested,” or conversions of nouns into unconventional verbs (such as “actioned”).

Rather than become cramped by rules and purist ideas of correctness, Fry argues that language should be a source of pleasure. Language is an innate right (even a biological inheritance) that everyone is entitled to. People should be free to to bend and modify it as they please. It is a flexible and elastic source of pleasure, not merely a vehicle for communication. Like wine and cheese, which are more than just means of sustenance but rather sources of delight, Fry says language can also be used for delight.

A few months ago I attended a creative/professional writing conference in Idaho in which the keynote speaker spent thirty minutes explaining that, when you become a writer, you begin to notice grammar mistakes everywhere. She had an extensive number of clippings from newspapers detailing myriad usage errors. Although her talk was funny and light-hearted, it revealed a tragic mindset. Writing (at least the more creative kind) isn’t about learning correct grammar. It’s about learning to find pleasure in language, especially when you steer it outside convention.

I'd Rather Be Writing » stephen fry

Stephen Fry iTunes Festival Keynote on Copyright and Music Piracy

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The Pleasure of Language — Essential Listening for Hyper-corrective Grammarians

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Audio / Video – The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry

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