August 03, 2006

To back and to aware

Once I heard one of the Oxford dictionary editors saying that words in currency for five years are eligible to be considered entries. Once people used to write 'to centre on.' And now 'to centre around' has come to be considered correct, probably because of prolonged use, although purists stand their ground. But language changes, on use by common people for longer period. But should it change on the use as it is in Bangladesh? Writers and editors often use 'to back' to mean 'to give or get (something/someone) back [to somewhere]' and 'to aware' to mean 'to make people aware.' I have always believed there is no space for anything called Bangladeshi English, even in future. But it shows the sign of it. I might prove wrong one day.

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