Jackie's right. It can only fall somewhere between. On the one hand, you don't want the language descending to the point "See Jane Run. Run Jane Run." The reason we have such a vast collection of words, is because each word was felt to be necessary, to describe or explain something perfectly. To eliminate most of those words is to eliminate understanding.

On the other hand, ever word in history started with someone feeling it should exist, and when you come down to it, even an expert opinion is still a subjective opinion. That expert may be following what others have said before, but he has still decided for himself if it was right or wrong. And as it has been argued to great length in other places, what is right and wrong is always changing. To hold on to a version of english (or any language) that existed 50 years ago, or 100 years ago, or even 500 years ago is still holding on to some mutation of an earlier version. Which no doubt, at the time, people would have been complaining about how nobody speaks properly any more, and that language was being destroyed.

To sum it up, being a curmudgeon is more about not wanting to change, than preserving what's "right". And to be its opposite is just plain lazy and unclear. It's got to be somewhere in between.

Ali