Solecisms are improper uses of language or grammar, often committed out of ignorance. Examples include using object pronouns as subject pronouns and using double negatives. Misuse of words, such as “literally” and “unique,” is also common. Solecisms can also include breaches of etiquette. While they are generally unacceptable in prose, they are often accepted in everyday conversation and artistic expression. William Shakespeare deliberately used solecisms in his writing to highlight character traits.
A solecism is an improper use or misapplication of rules or customs. It is often understood as the improper use of language or grammar, often unintentional and generally unacceptable. Solecisms are usually committed out of ignorance.
For example, American schoolchildren are vigorously taught not to say “John and I went to the store,” because “me” is an object pronoun, not a subject pronoun. They are taught that the correct construction is “John and I went to the store.” Unfortunately, what they’ve actually learned, it seems, is that “John and I” isn’t correct under every circumstance, and in a classic example of overcorrection, they’ll think they’re avoiding the “John and I” solecism by saying something like “Harry was talking to John and I.”
Double negatives are another very common type of solecism: “We have no bananas”, technically speaking, actually expresses that we have bananas, considering that “no banana” is the same as “zero bananas” and “ain’t got ” is the opposite of “have”. Of course, solecisms are often understood as meanings. When a shopkeeper says, “We have no bananas,” the savvy shopper will skip correcting his grammar and simply look for bananas elsewhere. Some solecisms are illogical: “I care less,” for example, is an unfortunate mutilation of “I don’t care less.” The two have opposite meanings on paper, yet some people use the former when they mean the latter.
Solecisms can also include the misuse of words. For example, when a disaster is expected, the authorities may request the evacuation of a city, but people are not evacuated: they can leave, be moved or transported, but evacuating means emptying a thing or place of its contents or inhabitants . “Literally” is often misused as equivalent to “figuratively” – as in, for example, “The speaker got so excited his head literally exploded!” “Unique” is often overused by modifiers – if unique means “one of a kind”, calling something “very unique” or “singular unique” as many do just doesn’t make sense.
The only thing that “regardless”, “quote” and “orient” have in common is that they are not actually words. They arose as a result of the misuse of their correct counterparts: “regardless”, “quote” and “orient”. Many people use the incorrect versions instead of the real words.
Some solecisms are a problem for many. Misuse of the reflexive pronoun “myself” is one. Constructions like “How are you” and “Harry and I went to the store” fuel an endless debate between those who see it as an abuse of language and those who insist that the dynamic nature of language requires prescriptive rules established centuries past should be at least relaxed for the 21st century.
In everyday conversation, however, solecisms are generally accepted, even if in prose they are considered unacceptable. Artistic license also allows for solecism in show business, and “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” for example, is widely considered an acceptable expression of Mr. Jagger’s level of frustration. William Shakespeare wrote thousands of solecisms, but the conventional wisdom is that he did it deliberately, often to highlight aspects of his characters’ personalities.
Solecisms are not limited to grammatical errors. A breach of etiquette is also considered solecism. This can be something as trivial as using the wrong fork to eat your salad or wearing white after Labor Day, or something as egregious as addressing the Queen of England as “Liz” without being asked to do so first.
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