So, since I'm not delirious with sickness or sleep deprivation, I have a good chance of sounding like the sanest one here.
An unusual situation.
I guess I need to talk about something interesting now. The title of this post is "Words are Messy," which I wrote because it sounds good, but for lack of a better topic, let me talk about English.
Exciting, right? But since you're presumably reading this in English, I'll give you a brief background as I understand it (a disclaimer, as my understanding is flawed).
English is an amalgation of countless Germanic and Romantic languages that somehow all found their way, whether through conquest or trade, to the British Isles, where they mingled with native tongues. French was actually used by the upper classes and for anything offical for a while in England. A while is about three hundred years; the Norman Invasion led by William the Conqueror in 1066 brought French, and the Black Death from 1347 to 1349 killed off most of the French speakers (be impressed, because those dates were off the top of my head). If you've ever been confused over why cow meat is called beef and pig meat is called pork and sheep meet is called mutton, well, blame the French. Of course, French isn't the only language that greatly impacted English, but it's the one I know the most about, and I'm too lazy to research. But anyway. Conquest and trade: as a result, English is a crazy, wonderful mish-mosh of exceptions. (In case you were wondering, "mish-mosh," or "mish-mash," comes from Yiddish.)
Hopefully that was succinct enough.
~ Moxie
An unusual situation.
I guess I need to talk about something interesting now. The title of this post is "Words are Messy," which I wrote because it sounds good, but for lack of a better topic, let me talk about English.
Exciting, right? But since you're presumably reading this in English, I'll give you a brief background as I understand it (a disclaimer, as my understanding is flawed).
English is an amalgation of countless Germanic and Romantic languages that somehow all found their way, whether through conquest or trade, to the British Isles, where they mingled with native tongues. French was actually used by the upper classes and for anything offical for a while in England. A while is about three hundred years; the Norman Invasion led by William the Conqueror in 1066 brought French, and the Black Death from 1347 to 1349 killed off most of the French speakers (be impressed, because those dates were off the top of my head). If you've ever been confused over why cow meat is called beef and pig meat is called pork and sheep meet is called mutton, well, blame the French. Of course, French isn't the only language that greatly impacted English, but it's the one I know the most about, and I'm too lazy to research. But anyway. Conquest and trade: as a result, English is a crazy, wonderful mish-mosh of exceptions. (In case you were wondering, "mish-mosh," or "mish-mash," comes from Yiddish.)
Hopefully that was succinct enough.
~ Moxie
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