descriptivists often rebut prescriptivist hypercorrection
This is not an example of hypercorrection.
Oops, you're right. But substitute "overly general criticism that attacks a valid usage" for "hypercorrection" and I think my point stands.
When someone describes a usage as a "mistake" it does normally connote a lack of prestige. But I don't think it follows that someone disagreeing with that description, and labelling their disagreement as descriptivist, is necessarily implying that descriptivism is about denying variation in the prestige of usages. They might simply mean that rebutting overly broad "mistake" claims is the kind of thing descriptivists do, which is how I read MixedNuts. (It seems the more obvious reading to me, though this likely says more about me than you or MixedNuts.)
I don't think it follows that someone disagreeing with that description, and labelling their disagreement as descriptivist, is necessarily implying that descriptivism is about denying variation in the prestige of usages. They might simply mean that rebutting overly broad "mistake" claims is the kind of thing descriptivists do
In that case they should not label the disagreement as "descriptivist", because descriptivism is entirely incidental to the dispute (even if the person happens to be a descriptivist).
It is logically impossible t...
The final straw was noticing a comment referring to "the most recent survey I know of" and realizing it was from May 2009. I think it is well past time for another survey, so here is one now.
Click here to take the survey
I've tried to keep the structure of the last survey intact so it will be easy to compare results and see changes over time, but there were a few problems with the last survey that required changes, and a few questions from the last survey that just didn't apply as much anymore (how many people have strong feelings on Three Worlds Collide these days?)
Please try to give serious answers that are easy to process by computer (see the introduction). And please let me know as soon as possible if there are any security problems (people other than me who can access the data) or any absolutely awful questions.
I will probably run the survey for about a month unless new people stop responding well before that. Like the last survey, I'll try to calculate some results myself and release the raw data (minus the people who want to keep theirs private) for anyone else who wants to examine it.
Like the last survey, if you take it and post that you took it here, I will upvote you, and I hope other people will upvote you too.