As for "'proper pronunciation' pretentious preposterous poppycock", that's the best alliterative string I've seen in a long time!
Why, thank you! Note I said "some people" - I wouldn't necessarily say it myself, I just said it because it popped into my head and was nice alliteration that I thought y'all word freaks might enjoy.
Geez, Pook, in your world there are no rules at all, I guess! What is the point of any of this discussion if it's all relative?
I dint say that, but I just think that this particular passionately promoted pronunciation paradigm (there I go again, can't help myself!) is not really so cut and dried or consistent enough to be called a rule.
I guess on a wider level what I'm saying is that grammar is
primarily descriptive, rather than prescriptive. I'm not saying it's
not prescriptive at all, it IS, but only for a certain period of time and in limited geographical areas. In essence, grammatical "rules" are merely descriptions of the way that the majority of speakers use the language at any given time.
