The Lexicon of The Office

The Office includes many unique ways of using speech. The primary focus in the show centers around using words oftentimes in incorrect ways in order to emphasise a point. Michael and Dwight do this in their speech by adding extra suffixes to words. Oftentimes these speech patterns go uncorrected in the show, and the cultural understanding behind this is that the viewer will find humor in the fact that incorrect grammar or syntax usage was used. This calls for an understanding by the audience of the basic rules of the English language, and makes a case for descriptivist language* by poking fun at the fact that language can be understood even when used in incorrect settings.

*Prescriptive langauge: The idea that there is one right way to write or speak, and that English grammar rules need to be followed for proper understanding of English to occur in society. This is the opposite of Descriptive language, which depends on the context of the situation for proper usage. In other words, each context has its own correct way in which language can be used. This does not necessarily follow the rules of English grammar.