in defense of the english language

[gunner]

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James D. Nicoll-

[Earthcup]

:rotfl:

Have you ever read what Mark Twain wrote about the English language?

[gunner]

don't remember though i must have read it one time or another, lay it on us here.

[Earthcup]

This isn't the one I was looking for but it's funny all the same:


He ought to have gone to work on the alphabet. There's not a vowel in it with a definite value, and not a consonant that you can hitch anything to. Look at the "h's" distributed all around. There's "gherkin." What are you going to do with the "h" in that? What the devil's the use of "h" in gherkin, I'd like to know. It's one thing I admire the English for: they just don't mind anything about them at all.

Rest of the speech is here: http://www.boondocksnet.com/twaintexts/speeches/mts_alphabet.html

I was looking for the one where he compared the English alphabet to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

[gunner]

"I was looking for the one where he compared the English alphabet to Egyptian hieroglyphs."

now that does sound interesting! if you find it please do post it here.

[Sequoia]

gunner - I LOVE THAT QUOTE!!!! ^___^ it rules! I hate english LOL unfortunately it's my 'native' language, so. . . ^^; I'm screwed till I learn some other language fluently. Working on Japanese, hopefully soon to be taking German or Russian. . . they just sound different.

. . . no, I'm NOT communist, dammit. . .

[gunner]

". . . no, I'm NOT communist, dammit. . ."

why would i think you a "communist" for wanting to learn about other languages and cultures? it's an interesting study and well worth anyones time. i would instead think you intelligent.

[Earthcup]

It's in my copy of "Letters From The Earth and other writings" but I can't seem to find it online. I'll dig it up somewhere....:)

[Sequoia]

what I meant was. . . -_-; my dad once made the connection between Germans, Russians, and Japanese as like WWII or something. . . I dono LOL it was just something he said to me once

[Earthcup]

heh, that's where we get get "not one red cent!" from, WWII!