American usage makes life easier The use of words is a part of everyone's life. Whether it's text messages, letters, or face-to-face conversations, we use words. When we need help, we go to a dictionary but every dictionary is different. There are liberal and conservative dictionaries and each has the same words but different connotations. David Foster Wallace in Authority and American Usage tells us how our language is controlled by those we did not choose. The words we use were decided for us and have become the authority for today's language, creating a common denominator and making life easier. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Our dictionaries are divided between “notoriously liberal and other notoriously conservative” (Wallace 389). This actually makes life a little more difficult because there can be a division of connotations. Although in general they will have very similar meanings. Wallace complains about how different dictionaries are and that someone has decided to have authority over words is not good. This authority has helped us because there is no division or challenge when it comes to definitions. It helped create a common language that even foreigners can understand a little. While it may cause problems, a single seat for American use has helped the most. When someone needs to know a definition, there are no competing theories about what a word means and it has been modernized. Many words from centuries ago have been eliminated from the language and replaced with other words with the same meaning. The same goes for slang. While not everyone uses slang, and each region has its own slang, there are common denominators that everyone can understand. So even though someone may not understand the slang, it can be described using the authority someone had over the words. Social media also has an advanced language. “Social media is making it easier than ever to contribute to the evolution of language” (Oxford). The authority that creates our dictionaries does not create the words created by social media. People start using words like "selfie" and it starts gaining traction because a lot of people start using it too. They become popular enough to integrate into everyday sentences. Even when a word is not official in the dictionary, the Internet helps spread it around the world. People who don't speak English will still know it if they're on social media regularly because it will be universal. Wallace describes introductions in dictionaries, although "the average citizen who goes to the Dictionary just to see how to spell meringue" does not read it, which contains "Usage Wars" in them (Wallace 396). In these introductions, the authors of the dictionary will demonstrate that they are either conservative prescriptivists or liberal descriptivists, which will change the way the dictionary is written, whether it is about definitions or connotations. Wallace describes pop prescriptivism as “old men complaining about the vulgarity of modern mores” (Wallace 397). The dictionaries they make are based on older English and are much more conservative. Their use of words can also be offensive, which Wallace used the dismissal of Standard Black English as an example of. Slang is used more often and one prescriptivist said it goes against classical grammar. They care more about preserving older English than adding slang to it. On the other hand, descriptivists are said to be influencing American culture, which includes language. In modern schools we are taught to write descriptively because writing is seen as an activity of.