Lockdown - Day 37

As promised, here you have a post about our new obsession: idiolects.

By and large, most students expect to obtain information from teachers and textbooks. And that's fine. However the real world is a chaotic jungle full of information that no textbook can possibly encapsulate. What is more, I don't think a book should overwhelm students with ten different idioms which mean the same thing. That's why we are customarily offered only a few expressions... a little menu, if you will, from which we are supposed to select an option. The consequence of that approach seems obvious: every student in a specific group will learn to speak in the same manner. Is that outcome logical or even desirable in the advanced level? I think not.

I will not deny that in the early stages of the learning process every student is meant to learn words such as chisel, dashboard, tile or gall bladder, which by the way, don't have many synonyms. Sooner or later, though, students realize they have to start making decisions. Just consider this set of stock phrases:

• Let's cut to the chase
• Let's get to the point
• Let's get down to brass tacks
• Let's get down to the nitty-gritty
• Let's get down to business
• Let's focus on the essentials
• Let's dispense with the formalities

Roughly speaking, all of them have the same meaning, right? The question is: which one do you usually choose when you speak English? You may find two or three of those in a textbook but, over the years, you may have been exposed to some others. So, again, which one is your favorite? You have to make a decision.

To illustrate just how critical those little decisions can be, I have put together a short video for you. Some of the examples in the clip I have already used in class. Sorry about that. Anyhow, it is not my intention to belabor a rather simple point. I just think that some of you could use a bit of refreshing. I hope it's useful.