THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997           TAG: 9702150003
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                            LENGTH:   22 lines

SAY IX-NAY TO USING POOR ENGLISH

The British are correct in thinking that Americans have mutilated the English language. We have.

While American English is accepted in this country, the British don't send scholars to study it and teach it to their children. If anything, American English is used as an example to English children of how not to speak.

Pig Latin could also be classified as a language full of ``authenticity and sheer fun,'' to quote Brenda McCormick's letter of Jan. 27, but I would challenge her to have her children taught Pig Latin in school.

Why would we want to encourage inner-city, mostly black Americans to speak in a way that only limits them in our society? It seems to me to be a very convenient way to fortify the race barrier.

SHANNON CAMPBELL

Virginia Beach, Feb. 10, 1997