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Posts: 1932

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Q: The Tragic Decay of the English Language

:(

The word "holy" is derived from "holig", which originally was a pegan term, stolen and changed by the Christians in a brutal attack on  the English language and this post has nothing to do with religion at all, it doesn't matter that I believe the mighty one-eyed Wodan shall rule all the Gods until Ragnarok brings their destruction.. Typically, the early Anglo-saxons used it to refer to a particular type of shrine, especially one dedicated to Thor or "Thunor" as the old Anglo-saxons called him. (another example of fringe-group leftist language corruption; I supposed they prefer the medieval Scandinavian pronunciation of the mighty God's name beause Scandinavia is more socialist).

In turn, the pegan meaning was derived from an older root meaning "preserved intact" (probably related to the word "whole"; compare the dutch word "heel" or the Old Church Slavonic "chelu" among many examples) and probably suffered semantic shift as the result of numerous ephitets emphisizing the supreme strength of Thor, the unbreakable and unbroken, who shamed and smited Loki and who will feast with the bravest of the dead warriors in the great hall of but why am I talking about that this is about English not my personal religious beliefs.

Why has some leftard left-coast leftist politically-correct liberal wingnut hippy "occupy" obama socialist chosen to - gradually over the course of about 1500 years - obfuscate the English language to the point that clear communication is absolutely impossible?

My theory: They are probably not "pro-life".

12 years 14 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
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How did they say, "Have you taken your prozac today?" in the good old days?

GuilinRaf:

I believe it was something like "Hark! Hast thou takeneth thy mood improving potion?" Possible answers would be: "Aye! I hast takeneth it!" Or "Nay! I hast not takeneth it and forsooth I daresay I shalt not!"

12 years 14 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

forsooth? lmao I don't think I have ever, in my 41 years, heard anyone dare use that word. Indeed!

12 years 14 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

Thats because I am 43!;-)

12 years 14 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

And it came to pass, they drank more prozac

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 14 weeks ago
 
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language is like a living thing it adapts and changes over time and thankfully becomes simpler i cant give a full answer now but think of all the new terms that were created in the last 100 years if language never changed then we would never be able to use it when it came to the new advancements and ideas that came along. which is why english is the number 1 intl lang. it's all about communication not being slaves to tradition

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Tragic decay?  English is the fastest growing and evolving language in history.  Sure, some modern usage has changed, just ask an American or a Brit about the word "gotten".  Still used in the US, but in the UK it's fallen out of usage.  People in the UK think it's stupid American English, but the word appears in several Shakespeare plays.  And Brits still use it's brother "forgotten"...

Anyway, it's because of the English language's ability to absorb and assimilate other languages that it has become the global lingua franca.

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Languages change with time, just like cultures. It's because we change, too. You can't "preserve" a language. The French are trying, and it's like trying to stop the ocean with a boogie board. You can't stop it. Why are you worried about the English language? It's on top, other languages are adopting English words. Sure, they may not stay the same, the pronunciation or meaning may be altered. By the way, if you knew anything about English, a thousand years ago, it was nothing like today.

Did you know that when the Normans took over England in 1066, English sort of melded with French and became what I suppose would be considered a whole new langauge? But it was still considered English. Since then it has gone through many shifts with vowel sounds and whatnot. Then when they standardized the written language they didn't even try to be phonetic anymore. Anyways, the point is, that the English language has changed a lot, and it's going to keep changing. Finding out the roots of words is cool, there are people devoted to that sort of thing. English has a long and interesting history, and instead of just thinking about the "good old days" of English, the "pop culture" of it is pretty good too. Language is complex, have a little fun with it.

GuilinRaf:

I remember studying about "The Great Vowel Movement" sometime in college!laugh

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

GR - I think that's why they now call it the Great Vowel Shift...to stop all the smirking and rude innuendo :p

12 years 13 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

@Shining Brow Oh, thats right! Well, I just KNEW it was something like that! My! What a ghastly thing i said! I hope I get it right in the classroom, I would hate to see local students makeing the same mistake!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

is that spelling mistake,, Great Bowel Movement?

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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The word holy is from the bible...remember the holy spirit the holy bible. There was no way that it came from some pagen magic game that kids play nowadays instead of going to class. Since this thread has been somewhat towards religion..take into consideration the words in the bible. Many people that were in power including the Roman empire followed what the Pope said. The pope was stronger than the king of England some time ago. If you knew but not sure that you did the King of England did not go to some pagen believer to seek advice on what to do he sought help from The Pope himself. You'd have to start your way at the top because that is who everybody had to follow. The king got help from the pope and then the king instructed his followers.

DaBen:

Mattaya just go sit in the corner and think about what you just said. I don't even want to have to deal with this mess.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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kchur:

Mattaya, the bible wasn't written in English.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Jnusb416:

Um...this stuff is much older than any pope. Maybe you should sit this one out while you do some research.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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crimochina:

gooooooooooooooooooooodnessssssssssssss chinese think the bible was written in english???????????

12 years 13 weeks ago
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crimochina:

matayayaya did you know jesus was born in manchester and was a christian he celebrated thanksgiving (all foreigners celebrate thanksgiving) he loved to go trick or treating on halloween, and he would always find all the easter eggs on easter (figure that one out)

12 years 13 weeks ago
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crimochina:

rpman empire and king of england??? i believe there was no pope during the roman empire dodo bird and yes romans spoke english!!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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crimochina:

you should be arrested and forced to register as a sex offender, no one has exposed themself more than you.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Traveler:

I think it will be difficult to explain to Mattaya that there are other languages besides English and Chinese. So let's just pretend the Bible was written in English. Or maybe Chinese...

12 years 13 weeks ago
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mattaya:

Thanks for adding that lovely red to my post it's one of my favorite colors! Thanks Daben!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Oh, Kchur, the irony....

Firstly, 'holy' comes from 'hAlig', not 'hOlig'. Next, I am a 'pAgan', not a 'pEgan'.

On to the argument (which the above comment does actually relate!). Languages change because people make mistakes in communication - they mis-hear words, they mis-read them, they mis-remember them. People come in with their own L1, and made additions and changes.

TBH, I am actually wondering what your original point really is... 'English' has been mutated so much since what is considered the original English as to be 2 completely different languages - about as different as Putonghua is to English now (well, ok, there would be some cross-overs..). But the fact remains, the paragraphs you wrote above were all in a language and style completely divorced from the English of not too long ago. And, the English of 100 years from now will also be somewhat different - certianly spelling will have a lot less of the French influence (finally - no more of those silent, and useless, letters!)

And, lastly, as I'm sure you know, English isn't 1 language - it's a hybrid of half a dozen of them, to a greater or lesser degree. Germanic grammar system, combined with a bit of Celtic, using a mostly Latin vocabulary, combined with Germanic and Brythonic... plus all those other language imports.

Question - when you're teaching. would you spell the bit that's not day as 'night', or 'nite'? How about 'tonight' or 'tonite'?? And, one that gets my goat, does the word 'alot' exist (as in, many, not a mis-spelling of 'allot')? There's your decay... one letter at a time!

MrTibbles:

Alot is not a word. Allot means to distribute. It's A LOT. "Lot" meaning much, great deal, or amount. So A lot is like saying A great amount, with A being an indefinite article in the usage.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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So what you're all saying is that a word's history doesn't necessarily reflect its modern usage?

So just because "silly" once meant "holy or blessed", I shouldn't call Jesus silly? Just because "Gym" is derived from the Greek word for "naked", I shouldn't take off all my clothes before jumping on the treadmill? Just because "disaster" meant "unfavourable star" doesn't mean we should only use it when talking about astronomy? And I shouldn't say that a bear is a type of "deer", even though many centuries ago people would have?

Is that what I'm getting from this, guys?

GuilinRaf:

Look at it this way: In the 1950's you could call a longshoreman "gay" in the US. Would you do it today?

12 years 13 weeks ago
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DaBen:

You could call a bear is deer if you want, it wouldn't care either way.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

If you wanna call Jesus Silly, then by all means. We do call unfavorable stars disasters. Lindsey Lohan comes to mind. And there is nothing wrong with naked treadmilling. Dammit.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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DaBen:

Have to disagree Hugs. I'm all for running naked, but have you see the treadburns you get if you fall while naked on a treadmill.... it's not a pretty sight.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

Pssst... DaBen... the trick is to not fall ;)

12 years 13 weeks ago
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DaBen:

I've tried that.... I keep focused on the whole idea of not falling and I forget the breath. Then I passout and fail anyway. It's a vicious cycle.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

DaBen, do we need to do the multitasking lessons again?

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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I think language has always evolved and expanded. I read that language roots are the same and many basic words sound similar in different languages like moma, massage girl. A very basic language would be based on emotional tones, like animals speak. We just change and adapt everything. yo

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I got 100 bucks on "People in the future will miss the way people talked in the 2000's".

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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I think every language got a decay, or so called development. You should be happy about English decay because this is one reason it got worldwidely spread faster than before.  Anyhow, I had heard many countries got language protection organizations now (not so sure)...For native English speaker, since English is somewhat world language, you should face the turth it's not your language anymore, it's Chinese English, Germany English, French English. What you can protect is only your English English....ah...

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12 years 13 weeks ago

I like a snowy Happy new year, rather than a no sky one...Beijing's time to ban the cars---the only solution for the time being...

 
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Shifu

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Kchur, I strongly recommend you read 'Mother Tongue' by Bill Bryson. It charts the rise and fall of the English language, and its subsequent mutation into the different forms it takes today (including Australian-English, American-English, Canadian-English, Singaporean-English etc). For further reference, you could also read 'Alpha Beta' by John Man, which follows the spread of the alphabet, from ancient Egyptian heiroglypics, through to primitive Phoenican symbols, and the rise and popularisation of the Roman alphabet. Finally, you should probably learn when to speak and when to listen.

kchur:

Read them both many years ago.

12 years 12 weeks ago
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12 years 12 weeks ago
 
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