If I say "I ain't no friend of him", I won't be registered as senatorial material. A senator should use language 'properly'. Both of the language scholars, John McWhorter of Columbia, and Ann Curzan of Michigan, emphasize that language changes. They have records that show changes but even without them, we can see that it does by reading Shakespeare (1564-1616) or Chaucer (1343-1400). The scholars have an old letter asking a member of the nobility what he thought of the newfangled fashion of pronouncing "walked" as one syllable instead of two: 'walk-ed'. But today if you go around saying 'walk-ed', and 'talk-ed', you will be 'look-ed' down upon.
English is often said to be the leading language worldwide. People point to the network of communication started by the US, so we have words that are basically English such as 'internet' and 'code'. Similarly, as airplanes fly here and there, English is often used for basic terms in aviation and airport-to-pilot talk. Of course, we need some uniformity and some reliability in our use of words if we are going to understand each other. We have the term 'Globish' to mean variants of English adopted and adapted by various groups around the world who speak a different language but find it useful, convenient or fun to use some English now and then. Robert McCrumb writes
I recall a visit I made to the European Commission in the mid-1990s. At the bar, in the nearby Parliament building, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and Irish delegates were all arguing–in English.
McCrum, Robert (2010-05-24). Globish: How English Became the World's Language (Kindle Locations 3584-3585). Norton. Kindle Edition.
Our children need to learn to read and write. Those skills are still basic to many aspects of our lives, not the least of which is reading screens and the labels on the switches of our machines. Today, we have uppercase letters (capitals) and lowercase letters (non-capitals) and spaces between words to try to clarify what we are trying to say in writing. But their use is undergoing changes as in commercial and marketing terms, like 'iPad' and 'LinkedIn". So, we throw in a captial here and there or leave one, or a space, out.
One of the most basic language conventions is the use of the period to denote the end of a sentence. But among our many audiences these days are machines as well as humans. So, with the message "your password is xxxxxx", it is best to omit the period. Otherwise, it may be copied and used along with the other characters, even though the period is not part of the official password. You know you will be denied passage, then.
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