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A review by yanailedit
Rotten English: A Literary Anthology by Dohra Ahmad
5.0
This has been one of the set texts for my final bachelor's Linguistics class and it has been an absolute pleasure and priviledge to be able to learn from it. The selection is incredible—perfectly curated. I've got an unending respect for Dohra Ahmad's work and would highly recommend anything by her to anyone.
Hilariously, yesterday I accidentally ended up eavesdropping on an interview between one of the PhD student scientists who works at my university and a journalist for BBC World. After finishing their interview, they had a passionate and very awkward discussion about the dangers of being seen as holding an ideology, the kind that happens between two people very politely disagreeing and misunderstanding eachother.
I wanted to apologise for eavesdropping and thank them for the riveting lecture my coffee break had turned into, but was only able to catch the journalist while the scientist left. Upon finding out that I was reading "Productive Paradoxes" by Ahmad and Nero re: vernacular literature, the journalist in question excitedly recommended a speech by David Foster Wallace in which he "tells students how it's all well and good for them to write in vernacular, but there's a good reason why we all function and operate in the Queen's English, you know, so don't shoot yourself in the feet". I think the irony about ideologies was lost on him and I probably left him thinking my academic integrity is seriously compromised.
So there ya have it folks, linguistic purism is alive, well, damaging, and having a coffee right behind you. I was already fully convinced of the urgency of Ahmad and my Rotten English course's arguments and content, but apparently the world felt it necessary to heavy handedly reiterate.
Hilariously, yesterday I accidentally ended up eavesdropping on an interview between one of the PhD student scientists who works at my university and a journalist for BBC World. After finishing their interview, they had a passionate and very awkward discussion about the dangers of being seen as holding an ideology, the kind that happens between two people very politely disagreeing and misunderstanding eachother.
I wanted to apologise for eavesdropping and thank them for the riveting lecture my coffee break had turned into, but was only able to catch the journalist while the scientist left. Upon finding out that I was reading "Productive Paradoxes" by Ahmad and Nero re: vernacular literature, the journalist in question excitedly recommended a speech by David Foster Wallace in which he "tells students how it's all well and good for them to write in vernacular, but there's a good reason why we all function and operate in the Queen's English, you know, so don't shoot yourself in the feet". I think the irony about ideologies was lost on him and I probably left him thinking my academic integrity is seriously compromised.
So there ya have it folks, linguistic purism is alive, well, damaging, and having a coffee right behind you. I was already fully convinced of the urgency of Ahmad and my Rotten English course's arguments and content, but apparently the world felt it necessary to heavy handedly reiterate.