The origins of the English language

Discussion in 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' started by sfoclt, Jan 18, 2018.

  1. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Thanks for that mental image, I'm never getting that out of my head now, am I? :confused:
     
  2. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Don't worry, the world gets its own back.

    India makes a major contribution. At the Chennai SBAF lunch meet profit rolls were among the sweets, and, only yesterday, for some medical tests, I had to go to the base ment.
     
  3. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Man, can’t we just delete this embarrassing thread (my embarrassment)?
     
  4. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    @AllanMarcus Streisand Effect. Had someone else bumped this up I'd have commiserated, but the last reply was roughly a month ago.

    Also, I'm no cunning linguist, merely enjoy breaking words down and seeing how they fit into the overall scheme of things, but this thread was somewhat interesting; Googling prompted by talk of Teutonic tribes and the like on here made for an educational evening, I recall.

    Speaking of my above habit, I sometimes even stumble into words I didn't know were real, only that they sounded right, in my staring too long at the arbitrary arrangement of letterforms that make up the English lexicon. One such word would be "intuit", which I used in a letter to a pen pal and only weeks later remembered to check if it was an actual thing.

    Reason I bring that up is to illustrate how languages are fun to play with. Debating the origins thereof, not so fun since there are people everywhere who know way too much about this sorta junk and would happily toss a history book at your face for so much as misattributing which specific butchering of whatever common language those early Germanic tribes had led to modern-day English.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2018
  5. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    I saw this and thought "All she wants is a little cunning linguist."
     
  6. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    That was precisely the reaction I was aiming for.

    In hindsight, a crude joke and was unnecessary in my reply, but it's 4AM and I'm just wondering what might have prompted Mr. Marcus to revive this thread, thought a bit of gutter humour would have helped alleviate the mood.
     
  7. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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  8. Ringingears

    Ringingears Honorary BFF

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    Please. Let’s not revive this thread. We all speak the same language here. Music. It’s universal. Can we focus on that? Everything else is minor really.
     
  9. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    There had been a long and learned correspondence on the British Guardian newspaper's Letters page as to the etymology and correct plural form of the word clitoris. As with, eg, octopus, it is nowhere near as simple or obvious as it looks*.

    Its peak was a contribution from a reader who suggested that anyone who could get his tongue around the plural of clitoris was indeed a cunning linguist.

    Best letter to a newspaper ever.



    *Not that clitorides are often obvious by simply looking.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2018
  10. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    For the anglophiles:

    [​IMG]

    For the Americans:

    [​IMG]

    For the rest of us:



    Now stop being silly!

    P.S. If you prefer being a gorilla you can always get a banana.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2018
  11. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    ...All future generations will be speaking Emoji anyways.
     
  12. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    :punk::mad:;):oops::bow:
     
  13. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Oh! That is making my mouth water. Genuine McVities, I'm sure: I can smell it!

    The tea, on the hand, looks disgusting. Even for English tea.

    Thanks for the Python sketch. Although I'm fairly sure that I saw all the original programmes, plus many, many repeats, I don't recall the chartered accountants and the gorilla!
     
  14. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

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    Which word are we talking about here? The Word of God?
     
  15. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Old joke...

    Q. Why did the sun never set on the British Empire?

    A. Because God wouldn't trust the bloody British in the Dark.​
     
  16. winders

    winders boomer

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    ...because not even God trusts a Brit in the dark.
     
  17. spwath

    spwath Hijinks master cum laudle

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    Doctor Who reference or just a comment on the current world?
     
  18. ButtUglyJeff

    ButtUglyJeff Stunningly beautiful IRL

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    :rolleyes:
     
  19. JustAnotherRando

    JustAnotherRando My other bike is a Ferrari

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  20. Thomas Crown

    Thomas Crown New

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