People seem to be downvoting you but youβre absolutely right. Languages are dynamic and evolve all the time. The language βrulesβ are merely descriptive; they explain how most people use the language, and if you want to make sure everyone can understand you itβs best to follow them.
Even then thereβs some wiggle-room. Take the gif/jif pronunciation debate, it was coined as βjifβ but the majority of people switched to βgifβ. So (depending on the dictionary you own) it will often either list just βgifβ as correct, or list both as equally valid pronunciations (which given the sizeable minority for βjifβ seems like the correct approach imo). All the gift/giraffe/creator-says-x is just fluff and not actually all that relevant.
IMHO absolute descriptivism and absolute prescriptivism are both bullshit. Language evolves, but that doesnβt mean there should be no rules.
Rules definitely help keep a language more consistent! Theyβre not without use. It also helps to teach language to children and makes established parts of a language stay more consisteny over time. However, pretending thereβs a rhyme or reason behind all of them is hard to justify, as well as claiming βx is correct because of rule yβ if a majority decides z is correct instead.
Itβs a bit hard to take in the present era, when the old rules were maintained by highly literate people like copy editors, and the new rules are made by anyone with a smartphone. I didnβt agree with all the traditional rules, but they have an elegance and consistency that Internet discourse usually lacks.
