misskitty,
don't worry, this isn't a flame. You make a good point, and the English language is one of the only major European languages that doesn't have an Official Authoratitive Body.

English dictionaries don't dictate the rules of written English, they simply record and report English as it used at the time. The recent dropping of the hyphen from many words in the dictionary didn't come about as a result of the writers of the dictionary suddenly deciding that they didn't like the hyphen anymore, it's come about because they've seen a steady decline in the usage of the hyphen by people in written English, until we reached the point where it was no longer usual to see it. I lament the loss of the hyphen, but I can't argue with the OED, because that's a bit like arguing with the writers of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica because I don't want Earth to be the third planet from the Sun.

However, at the same time, language needs some form of structure, and reasons for things. And there is a reason for us having various ways of referring to ourselves; ie, I, me, and myself. As explained, "me" cannot do things, nor can "myself", only "I" can. And so on, I don't need to repeat the above post.

So, as much as, in English, the common usage is the correct usage; there do also need to be some rules, or txtspk would become acceptable English, and the rules of grammar and punctuation would decay and crumble, until we all resorted to pointing and grunting to get across our basic points.
( Thinker, Wed 7 May 2008, 9:40, Reply)