Friday, July 18, 2008

Quote of the Day

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. 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." James D. Nicoll

4 comments:

  1. I love this quote. It's the sig on one of my email addresses.

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  2. Oh, and may I recommend the Stories of English? It's about the English that we do not speak.

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  3. I love time travel stories where people go back to medieval times where everyone speaks perfect modern English with contemporary vocabulary and such.

    Doctor Who doesn't count, because they explain that.

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  4. Hooray, the quote even has a correct attribution! I've seen it attributed to others or not attributed at all.

    It's a great quote.

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