Do We Grow Less Tolerant of Language Change as We Age?

How do you feel about this sentence? The results will impact our decision.

Earlier this autumn, I lured some of you into responding to an informal poll I’d created to probe whether there might be a relationship between a person’s age and the likelihood he or she will embrace a neologism. More than 200 people took part, and I’ve long been promising to chart the data and look for trends. It’s finally done — with enormous help from Catriona Bruce, a master’s student here at the Techn...