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Old 05-16-2010, 06:21 AM   #74
Michael J Hunt
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Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!Michael J Hunt is faster than a rolling 'o,' stronger than silent 'e,' and leaps capital 'T' in a single bound!
 
Posts: 38
Karma: 50000
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Lancashire, England
Device: none
WW, somewhere, in one of those books on the origins of English, is the reason why we have different words for the same things, especially on the farm and in the kitchen. As I recall it, post 1066, the Normans (who had suddenly become the boss people) called the cooked equivalents of farm animals by their French/Norman names 'porc', 'boeuf' - soon to become 'pork' and 'beef' - but the Anglo-Saxons, just as suddenly relegated to the lower divisions, retained 'pig' and 'cow'. Also, the more common trades tended to keep their Anglo-Saxon names - shoemaker, baker, miller - while the more skilled trades adopted the French terms - painter, tailor, mason. And so the two languages merged, together, of course, with those words from anywhere and everywhere the English roamed. The French prevent 'foreign' words from entering their language by Committee, the English open their language up to all-comers who can lay claim to having a word adopted by the people. Small wonder that English is the language chosen across the world for administration, business and communication purposes. That's why it's so fascinating to use and why the English are the worst people by far to bother to learn someone else's language - lazy sods that we are (I'm generalising here, but I do include myself, who can only boast a smattering of an obscure African language that I had to learn by necessity!)

MJ
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