Re: [tied] English.

Mark O starts off in one post:

>I am speaking from the inside. [...] I am complaining about how us
>native English speakers are oppressed by the ubiqity of non-English-
>speakers helping us define our language; Piotr, as a servant of Lady
>HEL, is an exemplar. Sacre merde: it takes a Pole to tell me the truth
>about my own native language.

In another, he has writ:

>Glen understands me. I'm complaining about how you non-native speakers
>of English are constraining our use of our language. Piotr: it's
>delightfully disgusting that you should be the one to correct me on
>the history of English.

Frankly, no, Mark. I don't understand you. I've mentioned before how
multicultural my town Winnipeg is. For me, this smells of xenophobia.
I honestly never keep track of who's a "foreigner" and who isn't. It
also doesn't strike me as bizarre for an English-speaking Pole to
tell me about my own native language and its history. Each have their
own specialty and if somebody from Poland knows all about the English
language... well, all the power to them. Many English speakers don't
know the origin of their own language.

Also, English is not unique in being affected by surrounding languages
so I don't understand the reason for the "complaint".

-------------------------------------------------
gLeNny gEe
...wEbDeVEr gOne bEsErK!

home: http://glen_gordon.tripod.com
email: glengordon01@...
-------------------------------------------------

>
>We native-speakers of English got our pride.
>
>Yeah: Evolution evolves.
>
>--- In cybalist@..., "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Mark O:
> > >>Currently, English is severely constrained by its literature (and
> > >>universal literacy). We need keep ourselves literate in what's
>gone
> > >>before and thus subject ourselves to the prescriptivists,
> > >>notwithstanding a generations-long revolt against them.
>Innovation
> > >>often gets stillborn.
> >
> > Hakan in response:
> > >I've never heard this opinion before and as a speaker of a small,
> >heavily
> > >English-influenced language it's a weird experience to read >that
>one of
> > >its native speakers is so critical of the present state of English
>and that
> > >you believe that English is a constrained >language.
> >
> > I think Mark just likes to wield his poetic skills sometimes.
> > English is hardly stillborn if you consider the "subculture"
>elements
> > that are helping to reshape the language as we speak (cf. "dope",
>"phat",
> > "be all that", "technicolor yawn", etc), combined with new
> > technologies, new innovations, new companies and new levels of
>social
> > interaction with their own new catchwords (cf. "EQ", "can-do
> > attitude", etc). I would say that it's true that old media items
> > (such as Gene Kelly or Betty Boop) might have a tendency to slow
> > some changes in the language (I mean: Who knows?? Television has
> > only been around for less than a century) but at the same time,
>creativity
> > and new terminologies (especially increasingly specialized ones) are
>still
> > being created left and right.
> >
> > Sometimes it's hard for a computer programmer to communicate with an
> > architect about webdevelopment technologies without dumbing the
> > conversation down to a simple pidgin known as "layman's terms"
> > combined with the occasional sign language for clarification.
> >
> > Mark O:
> > >>It would be so nice if English could go its merry way and fracture
> > >>into a number of interesting daughter languages. But this seems to
>not be
> > >>in the cards.
> >
> > Mark underestimates the concept of ever-increasing "specialisation"
> > in the society of the 3rd millenium AD. English *is* fracturing but
> > in a totally new way. Remember, my friends - Even evolution evolves.
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------
> > gLeNny gEe
> > ...wEbDeVEr gOne bEsErK!
>
>

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