Telling the truth - статья на английском языке

The function of grammar and dictionaries is to tell the truth about language. Not what somebody thinks ought to be the truth, nor what somebody wants to ram down somebody else's throat, nor what somebody wants to sell somebody else as being the "best" language, but what people actually do when they talk and write. Anything else is not the truth, but an untruth.
Webster's Third New International Dictionary marks a great step forward in the direction of telling the truth about the vocabulary of English. What does one want to know about a word? First of all, what it means; also how it is spelled, how it is pronounced, and what its origin is. The new Webster's performs all these tasks better than its predecessors. Its editors have done an excellent job in taking into account all the extensive variations that exist in American English, both standard and nonstandard. In their very careful definitions, they have taken actual present-day meaning as their point of departure. They have wisely recognized a far greater gradation in levels of usage than has therefore been customary. They have recognized the fact that no single standard can truthfully be said to exist for American English as a whole, and have given extensive recognition to variant in pronunciation and spelling. On the whole, their documentation of American English vocabulary is the best that has been offered to date for general use.
The puristic criticism directed against Webster's Third International are based on a completely mistaken notion of the nature of language. Purists are under the delusion that language can be "regulated" from above and that it is the job of grammars and dictionaries to do so; that there exists a single standard of "correctness" for English, in spelling, pronunciation, and usage. <...>
Aside from mere ignorance of the facts, here are only three psychological bases for purism: sadism, masochism, and desire for personal aggrandizement. Authoritarianism in any field (including language matters) is based primarily on sadism, the desire to force one's will on others and to cause unhappiness while doing so; most purists are, consciously or unconsciously, sadists. Some people do get pleasure out of masochistically yielding to the will of others and obeying puristic precepts. Most contemptible of all are those who adopt puristic attitudes because they find that, by truckling to prevailing superstitions, they can obtain kudos from that part of the public who know no better (incidentally fattening their bank accounts in the process).
We know far more of the truth about language than backward-looking purists are willing to admit; Webster's Third International is a praiseworthy step along the road to spreading the knowledge of this truth.
(From "Telling the Truth" by Robert A. Hall, Jr.)