[Magdalen] Like I Was Puzzled.

[Jay Weigel]

The French are most opposed to adding new words and allowing popular usage
to become the norm, ISTM. I'm always amused at the "edicts" about language
coming from there. It happens anyway. Modern Hebrew, on the other hand, is
very alive, and I'm kept up on that by my friend Yitzhak, who frequently
relates to me some development brought about by this or that group of
immigrants or travelers (Israeli young people are the most itchy-footed
bunch of globe-trotters in the world....they'll go anywhere!).

I am fascinated by language and languages and was a linguistics major in
the dim past. I left that when I couldn't figure out how I would ever use
it in the real world. Now I see that probably the semantics end would have
been my niche and I could have specialized in translation issues...ah well.

On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 at 11:39 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> In a message dated 12/21/2014 7:13:42 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> jguthrie at pipeline.com writes:
>
> Some folk would like to make English a language like Latin -- No  one
> better make
> up new words nor allow popular usage to become the norm.  To that, I say
> Phooey!>>>
>
> Oh, I'm all in favor of new words in English.  English is uniquely  suited
> to
> such because English dumped gender and a lot of other endings  centuries
> ago.  Words are imported wholesale into English, and that is proper
> considering the status of English as the "lingua Franca".
>
> I mourn the loss of the objective case in pronouns and the loss of
> perfectly good adverbs.  I think the clarity of expression also  loses
> in this.  Whatever I prefer in this matter doesn't matter, however,  and
> what
> will be will be....and that is all right (not alright)  :-)
>
>
> David S.
>