[geeks] English language [was: power (was Mr. Bill)]

[Sandwich Maker]

" From: John Francini <francini at mac.com>
" 
" On 18 Sep 2008, at 11:47, Dan Sikorski wrote:
" 
" > Sandwich Maker wrote:
" >> sadly, if it becomes common enough, the reaction is to change not the
" >> teaching but the dictionaries.
" >>
" >
" > So, in ten years, "i can haz cheezburger" will be taught as proper
" > grammar and spelling.
" >
" >   -Dan Sikorski
" >
" > I accidentally the Grammar.  THE WHOLE THING!
" 
" English has ever been thus. Unlike French, which has L'Academie
" Frangais to dictate What Is Official French and What Is Not, there's
" no such thing in English, and never has been.  It's a language that
" has been defined exclusively by usage; dictionaries are constantly
" trying to catch up to the usage.  Consequently, it is quite the
" bastard child.

it always was since its birth.  saxon and danish in the first
millennium, french in 1066, and probably more than a trace of british
[welsh gaelic] and latin, even before the renaissance.  then there's
the large amount of latin and greek borrowed initially for science,
renaissance french again so that we have both chief and chef...

some early dictionary compilers, ignorant of the history of the
english language, have confused things further by 'regularizing'
similar-seeming words from different ancestries.

" One wag put it: "English: The language that lures other languages into
" dark alleyways, clubs them over their heads, then steals their wallets."

starting with itself...
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
internet rambler                            is to see what all have seen
adh at an.bradford.ma.us                       and think what none thought