Cunning LinguistFollow

That's actually English's strong point-- it's adaptability. English's ascendency as the universal language is directly attributable to the manner in which it swallows whole languages into itself, mutates them, and co-opts them to describe things previously undescribable.

It's why French, with its' attendant committee that decides what constitutes acceptable officially recognised words, was trampled last century as the foremost language used across the globe.

Furthermore, the Americanization of the English language with its' slang, techno babble, and idioms ensures that the language remains vibrant and new-- all to the consternation of non-English speaking people around the world.

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And on the other hand there are those who find no need for language at all

An international language class tutor:

"And in English, a double-negative becomes a positive, so if "I didn't not go", it means you did go.

In Spanish, a double positive is still a positive, so "Si que yo fue" still means you did go

But in no language does a double-positive become a negative"

An American at the back mutters "Yeah, right"

You tell me what else we have to be smarmy about? Huh? Huh??

Two for the show...


Edited, Thu Sep 2 16:46:18 2004 by trickybeck

I don't know. Erm...how about that you have read the Oxford English Dictionary..twice.

How's that?

Seriously he told my class that he had read it twice, all the way through

Now that's a classic example of what we English call Schadenfreude.

Another RACK for Nobby. He's hitting for the cycle!

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