My Heart is Broken…

August 3, 2012 By 19 Comments

I carry with me an inner anguish that is increasing daily. I have noticed that more and more people are using the word “hate” as a noun. I hear it being said. I see it being written, and every time this poor usage of the English language occurs every fiber of my being cries out with sadness. These people are sipping their lattes and lounging in Starbuck’s with their Apple laptops and although their eyes are smiling I can see that every time they utter the word “hate” they are using it as a noun instead of a verb. This grieves me because they pretend to be intellectual and educated, but they keep on using the word “hate” as a noun! They say a chicken sandwich is filled with hate. A sandwich can’t be filled with hate!! It is filled with HATRED!! I drink my own coffee quietly but realize that the English language is being destroyed by these smooth talking bigots. Oh, they don’t look like bigots on the outside. They don’t say anything bigoted against the English language. They pretend to be nice ordinary American intellectuals, but time and again they use the word “hate” as a noun. They are supposed to represent open minded, well educated liberal Americans and yet their very words betray them. They seem to be nice people, yet every time they abuse the English language they inflict deep pain on all those who care–who deeply care. I’m heartbroken…

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , 19 Comments
About Fr. Dwight Longenecker
  • http://PortaCaeli Patricius

    So am I, Father!

  • Neal

    Father you must understand,

    The Queen’s English is waaaaaaaay to mainstream!

    • Frank Weathers

      Neal, that’s “too” mainstream. I’ll say a prayer for you. *sniff*

      • Neal

        ….the ONE time I mess up that grammer rule….and it’s on a post about grammer

        mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

        • Fr. Dwight Longenecker

          Grammar not Grammer. You can’t spel eether.

  • Marya

    Even worse: “hate” being used as an adjective. For instance, “Chik-Fil-A is a purveyor of hate chicken”. What did the English language ever do to them, that they want to torture it in that manner?

  • veritas

    Father,

    These are the same people who, if they claim to be Catholic, use the word “Church” without the definite article.

  • Dad Of Eight

    Father, 1) I agree and 2) nice use of what you call sentimentality? :)

  • http://reluctantliberal.wordpress.com Reluctant Liberal

    Ugh. Language is a living thing shaped by use. Ever wonder why the English language has so many exceptions to its grammar and spelling conventions? It’s because the rules were made up after the fact. Language norms are shaped by how the language is normally used, and that’s okay.

    (Looks around nervously) Hmm… I seem to be surrounded by language purists. (Steels self) I can handle that. Bring on your hate criticisms.

    • Fr. Dwight Longenecker

      Is it possible that you have misplaced your sense of humor?

  • veritas

    English may be adaptable but, thank goodness, it has rules. Without rules the language becomes less and less precise and more and more meaningless.

    That is why the leftist elite like to “mess around”with the grammar of English. They hope that by so doing they will muddy the waters, eliminate clear and logical thinking and enable the Orwellian new speak to arrive.
    In so doing they can then impose the new order on society. No one can object, because no one will be able to either muster up enough logic to counter the new ideology or if they do know that it is wrong and dangerous, they will not be able to find the correct logical and semantically correct sentences in which to raise the objection.

    • Dad Of Eight

      Good point Veritas. For example, the word bigot is wrongly thrown around a lot these days – and used to describe someone whose opinions are conservative. Most recently it has been used to describe the Chick-fil-A owner after he opined on marriage. In reality, the word appears to describes many who criticized him. The definition of bigot is “a person who is intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions.” A person who simply speaks their opinion is not a bigot. Someone who is intolerant of others opinions is bigoted.

  • Marya

    Certainly, English is a living language, but that doesn’t mean that each new development in usage has to embraced, or that all developments will be permanently adopted. One development I hate to see is the collapsing of various forms of a word into a single all- purpose word, so that words such as “hateful,” “hated,” “hatred” are replaced with “hate.” This impoverishes the language rather than adding to its richness and variety–and it is intellectually lazy as well.

  • Kathy Schiffer

    Fr. Dwight, you have made me type the acronym I never thought I’d use: ROFL. Nice job.

  • Richard

    Come now, Reluctant Liberal . Here is the solution! I propose that all such arguments be carried out using only ecclesiastical Latin under the strict supervision of the Church. After all, “sceptra Latinitas nunquam commutabilis.”

  • Tom in South Jersey

    What breaks my heart is that these people are perceptive, without even knowing it. Hate can be a thing, and lately it is all around us. The only thing that will counter hate the noun will be Love the proper noun.

  • Mike

    ‘“Hate” is a noun as well as a verb, and both have been steadily in use for well over a thousand years.’
    ‘The newcomer here, the use of “hate” to modify another noun, first appeared in print in 1916, according to citations in the dictionary….You can see the adjectival use of “hate” in phrases like “hate literature,” “hate campaign,” “hate mail,” and more recently “hate crime” and “hate speech.”‘
    http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/10/hate.html
    New as in from 1916. Hmm. Exactly how old are you, Father?
    No disrespect intended, I love your blog.

    • Fr. Dwight Longenecker

      or “hate sandwich”

    • dominic1955

      What I do not like about this kind of word usage is that it is decidely Orwellian. How can anyone argue that a “hate crime” is a not evil and to be absolutely condemned? How can anyone be for either “hate” or “crime”? Yet, it shuts down any sort of rational discussion. Is what the person describing as a “hate crime” or “hate speech” or “bigotry” etc. really anything of the sort? Somehow supporting what is right by natural law is now “bigotry” and being critical of a decidely minority and radical opinion group (the “gay” “rights” movement) is hate speech? Just start calling it thought crime, comrade.