Classy bit over here (the official Inter.. i mean joke thread) (2 Viewers)

Henry

Senior Member
Sep 30, 2003
5,517
Why should a word be connected to its root? What is the root of do?

It makes no difference. Language evolves, words change meaning.


Try and learn french, and you'll find that it's not difficult for you to learn, if not to pronounce. Why? Because you speak some italian, and their shared roots make a lot of words easy to figure out. Same with English, despite it's Germanic roots, it's nice that one can still use Latin roots to figure out the meaning of words. Perhaps I'm more romantic, but I like those connections between languages and cultures. And the "evolution" of language is usually the result of people mis-using words.
 

Buy on AliExpress.com

JCK

Biased
JCK
May 11, 2004
123,562
Which language? Personally I think it's a great boon to us that we can do away with the formality crap that imo plagues certain languages. I hate saying "does the man know what time it is" in polish which is the polite form and the compulsory one.

I got an email from an italian webstore the other day and guess what, they wrote "tu", the informal you. Excellent.
It was a big issue here a couple of years ago or so when a reporter addressed the crown princess "du", the only "you" in Swedish. He should have said "your highness" or equivalent.
 
OP
Martin

Martin

Senior Member
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #4,103
    Try and learn french, and you'll find that it's not difficult for you to learn, if not to pronounce. Why? Because you speak some italian, and their shared roots make a lot of words easy to figure out. Same with English, despite it's Germanic roots, it's nice that one can still use Latin roots to figure out the meaning of words. Perhaps I'm more romantic, but I like those connections between languages and cultures. And the "evolution" of language is usually the result of people mis-using words.
    Languages also have lots of "false friends" ie. words that sound the same but mean different things. There are good and bad sides. In any case, language is not something you decide and then start using, grammar is just a codification of the rules that have evolved naturally.
     
    OP
    Martin

    Martin

    Senior Member
    Dec 31, 2000
    56,913
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #4,104
    It was a big issue here a couple of years ago or so when a reporter addressed the crown princess "du", the only "you" in Swedish. He should have said "your highness" or equivalent.
    I love that, not even the royals can get a formal address :D
     

    Henry

    Senior Member
    Sep 30, 2003
    5,517
    Languages also have lots of "false friends" ie. words that sound the same but mean different things. There are good and bad sides. In any case, language is not something you decide and then start using, grammar is just a codification of the rules that have evolved naturally.

    haha, yes, that's very true. particularly with english. but I don't consider that to really be a bad side, to be honest, just makes it more interesting ;)
     

    Omair

    Herticity
    Sep 27, 2006
    3,254
    And how exactly did this change from a thread where we laugh our asses off to a thread where we discuss language deterioration/evolution through ages?
     

    Ken

    The Dutch Touch
    Aug 17, 2007
    13,340
    If it makes you feel better, it put a smile on my face. Not sure if that's because it was funny or just soooo bad that I couldn't think of any other facial expression to go with it.

    Atleast you managed to make someone smile, thats all that matters.

    :D
     

    IrishZebra

    Western Imperialist
    Jun 18, 2006
    23,327
    What tea do footballers drink?

    PenalTea!


    Why do Torino fans carry lighters around with them?

    Because they lose all their matches!



    I wonder what would happen if Franz Ferdinand were assassinated :D
     

    Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)