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Forums => English & Linguistics => Topic started by: Jonathon on July 12, 2006, 08:23:11 AM

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: Jonathon on July 12, 2006, 08:23:11 AM

From one of my new favorite blogs, Language Log (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/), I found a list of "essentialist explanations" (http://mercury.ccil.org/%7Ecowan/essential.html)—nearly 800 descriptions that go something like "Language X is essentially language Y under conditions Z."

Some of my favorites for English:

"English is essentially bad Dutch with outrageously pronounced French and Latin vocabulary."

"Written English is essentially a variety of Old French invented by somebody who spoke only Saxon and read only Latin."

"English is essentially what happens when you can't decide whether the Greeks or the Romans had the better civilization, so you ask everybody they ever beat up on to sort it out."

Check it out. Good stuff.

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: beverly on July 12, 2006, 02:53:09 PM

:lol:   I like the last one.

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: Jonathon on July 12, 2006, 03:01:16 PM

There are some pretty good ones on French, too.

"Francophones are essentially Germans speaking the bad Latin they were taught by Gauls."

"French is essentially the pidgin Latin that Caesar's army used to solicit German whores."

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: rivka on July 12, 2006, 06:25:34 PM

My favorite one is the first and the third.

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: pooka on July 12, 2006, 07:20:09 PM

Yes, both is good.

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: Jonathon on July 12, 2006, 07:31:22 PM

Smart alecs. <_<  

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: rivka on July 12, 2006, 08:14:10 PM

Hmph.  

Title: Essentialist explanations
Post by: pooka on July 13, 2006, 07:30:46 AM

I believe that is normally spelled with a silent "R".