errors and casting

[Seebs]

Are the rules applied consistently (eg if he says "can't hardly" is it
always "can't hardly"), and are they accepted by at least one other
person (does someone else say "can't hardly")?

If so he's speaking grammatically.

This seems like it belongs in alt.usage.english.

I would say that, in general, if you assert that any speech according
to *a* grammar is grammatical, that reduces "grammatical" to the point
of near-irrelevance. In particular, it removes grammar from the list
of things a language has, because the existence of a pair of people who
use all the same words but don't use them in a way other people can
understand would render them perfectly "grammatical".

To bring this onto the general topic of C: The existence of a compiler
which accepts a particular program does not make that program "valid C".
What's usually at issue is whether we can have reasonable confidence
that C compilers in general would accept something, or even just a future
compiler from the same vendor.

Similarly, what's usually at issue with language is whether you have
reasonable confidence that an arbitrarily-selected native speaker of the
language you think you are speaking will be able to figure out how
to parse your sentences. If they can't, then if you are speaking
grammatically at all, you are speaking a different languauge than they
are hearing.

I tend to view "proper grammar" as rather a lot like "strictly conforming
C". It's not really required most of the time, but there is a HUGE advantage
to the writer in knowing what the rules are, even if the very next decision
you make is that you are going to break them.

-s