Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The English language

Originally I signed up for the A Word A Day mailing list for the quotes. Over time I've come to pay more attention to the words.

A recent email had this line:

"If you speak English, you know words from at least a hundred different languages. That's because English has borrowed words from languages everywhere, and continues to do so."

which reminded me of a fun line:

"We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

It isn't clear who said this. In poking around on the internet a bit it appears it was said by either Booker T. Washington or James Nicoll.


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