Thinking about language

The concept of an absolute and unwavering, presumably God-given standard of linguistic correctness (sometimes confused with “purity”) is widespread, even among the educated…To talk about “correctness” in language implies that there is some abstract, absolute standard by which words and grammar can be judged; something is either “correct” or “incorrect,” and that’s all there is to that. But the facts of language are not so clean-cut. Consequently many students of usage today prefer to talk instead about acceptability, that is, the degree to which users of a language will judge an expression as OK or will let its use pass without noticing anything out of the ordinary…Acceptability is not absolute, but a matter of degree; one expression may be more or less acceptable than another….Moreover, acceptability is not abstract, but is related to some group of people whose response it reflects…Acceptability is part of the convention of language use; in talking about it, we must always keep in mind “How acceptable?” and “To whom?”

From The Origins and Development of the English Language, Fifth Edition.Thomas Pyles and John Algeo. Boston: Thompson Wadsworth, 2005.