I've never paid all that much heed to the whole precriptivism vs descriptivism thing. I just try to use words accurately without getting too precious about it. But I do have a question for the latter camp:

Do you lot honestly accept the unintentional abuse and misuse of words without batting an eyelid? just smile magnanimously, saying to yourself: "I know what he means"? doesn't that take us all onto the slippery slope of Humpty-dumptyism?