Txtspk...
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Paul Watson wrote:
Thousands of years? I don't think it is that old. Old English came first and even that isn't thousands of years old.
Languages have been evolving all the time. English HAS taken thousands of years of costruction just has humans have taken millions or billions of years of construction. It is just that at a certain point in the past it didn't exist yet. At a certain point in the past humans didn't exist either, but we evolved from things that did. English is also a grand amalgam of many languages including Latin, Greek, German, Dutch, Norse, Gaelic, French, and many others. Each of these languages has its own evolutionary path also. So, I would say that the English language as it exists is the product of thousands of years of linguistic evolution.
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On the topic.... I found out the other day, that the language I speak (basically my 1st tongue, english being my 2nd) and grew up with, happens to be the youngest language in existence[^]. (other than programming languages):)
http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/Doubts.aspx[^] A treat for all down voters...[^] "you can't forget something you never knew..." M. Du Toit
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i make it my duty to punch everyone i hear saying lol, wtf, or g2g. i seriously want these people dead. we invented the cell phone for a reason, and it sure as hell wasnt so we could revert back to instant messaging...
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VonHagNDaz wrote:
i make it my duty to punch everyone i hear saying lol, wtf, or g2g. i seriously want these people dead.
Sometimes I feel the same about people who start sentence with lowercase letter, el ou el. ;P
[My Blog]
"Visual studio desperately needs some performance improvements. It is sometimes almost as slow as eclipse." - Rüdiger Klaehn
"Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne Metcalfe -
VonHagNDaz wrote:
i make it my duty to punch everyone i hear saying lol, wtf, or g2g. i seriously want these people dead.
Sometimes I feel the same about people who start sentence with lowercase letter, el ou el. ;P
[My Blog]
"Visual studio desperately needs some performance improvements. It is sometimes almost as slow as eclipse." - Rüdiger Klaehn
"Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne Metcalfeits not my fault that programming has ruined my ability to capitalize. i could always type likeThis or strLikeThis, but its much faster to just go with all lower cases... :laugh:
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Pedants Society member are we? (at this point you say "actually no its the Pedants Association") I think the guy was just trying to get across that its an old language rather than be historically accurate to the nearest fortnight. I could be wrong though :|
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
Sure. I'm not a real pedant. I just dislike dramatising fact to get your point across. He tried to use "English is thousands of years old" to over-power other thoughts. "Java is used by billions of coders, you should use it too!" when in fact it is only millions of coders. etc.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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Sure. I'm not a real pedant. I just dislike dramatising fact to get your point across. He tried to use "English is thousands of years old" to over-power other thoughts. "Java is used by billions of coders, you should use it too!" when in fact it is only millions of coders. etc.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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On the topic.... I found out the other day, that the language I speak (basically my 1st tongue, english being my 2nd) and grew up with, happens to be the youngest language in existence[^]. (other than programming languages):)
http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/Doubts.aspx[^] A treat for all down voters...[^] "you can't forget something you never knew..." M. Du Toit
In some suburbs of the London, English is now a second language. The same is happening - or has taken place - in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Singapore.This has been the case for centuries, if not longer, in cities with large immigrant populations. Generally the first generation to become fully assimilated into a new culture are the grandkids of the original immigrants.-- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.
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...but if we're going to be picky the original point was that english was thousands of years in construction which is most certainly true - unless you're a creationist of course :|
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
No, that isn't true. The languages that came before English and which contributed to English weren't wandering around with the intent that they would "construct" English. Frisian didn't have a goal to become English one day, it was just Frisian. At some point branches of Frisian and other languages diverged significantly enough that someone classed it as English. There was a grey period during which it wasn't called English but in which it was but before that it wasn't English and nobody was "constructing" it. You can't apply hindsight to history and carpet bomb other threads of history. They are threads in of themselves, not some building block to our almighty English language. As for creationism, English wasn't the language of the Christians anyway. Jesus certainly didn't speak it.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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Pedants Society member are we? (at this point you say "actually no its the Pedants Association") I think the guy was just trying to get across that its an old language rather than be historically accurate to the nearest fortnight. I could be wrong though :|
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
May I enquire as to whether Pedants Association requires an apostrophe? I mean is it a society of Pedants, or a Society belonging to a pedant? Of Course if it was a society belonging to several pedants, it would have the apostophe after the "S". Please advise.
------------------------------------ Happy Primes Lead to Happy Memories. Don't Google FGI
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No, that isn't true. The languages that came before English and which contributed to English weren't wandering around with the intent that they would "construct" English. Frisian didn't have a goal to become English one day, it was just Frisian. At some point branches of Frisian and other languages diverged significantly enough that someone classed it as English. There was a grey period during which it wasn't called English but in which it was but before that it wasn't English and nobody was "constructing" it. You can't apply hindsight to history and carpet bomb other threads of history. They are threads in of themselves, not some building block to our almighty English language. As for creationism, English wasn't the language of the Christians anyway. Jesus certainly didn't speak it.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
Paul Watson wrote:
No, that isn't true. The languages that came before English and which contributed to English weren't wandering around with the intent that they would "construct" English. Frisian didn't have a goal to become English one day, it was just Frisian.
Never said it was true - English evolved from many other languages thats a fact, and that process has been continuing for 'a long time'. There was no point in history in which someone suddenly woke and said 'bloody hell - we're speaking english!'
Paul Watson wrote:
You can't apply hindsight to history
The classification, the actual point in history where english was deemed by someone to exist was I'm certain applied with hindsight, and I'm sure anyone listening to it today would find it difficult to believe it was english!
Paul Watson wrote:
carpet bomb other threads of history. They are threads in of themselves, not some building block to our almighty English language.
Carpet bombing history? How did I manage that?
Paul Watson wrote:
As for creationism, English wasn't the language of the Christians anyway. Jesus certainly didn't speak it.
What has religion got to do with it? :confused:
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
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May I enquire as to whether Pedants Association requires an apostrophe? I mean is it a society of Pedants, or a Society belonging to a pedant? Of Course if it was a society belonging to several pedants, it would have the apostophe after the "S". Please advise.
------------------------------------ Happy Primes Lead to Happy Memories. Don't Google FGI
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its not my fault that programming has ruined my ability to capitalize. i could always type likeThis or strLikeThis, but its much faster to just go with all lower cases... :laugh:
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U R RT !
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No. It isn't practical or even terribly useful outside of the narrow technically-constrained environment where it evolved. I've seen more fights than i care to think about arise due to its ambiguity. That's not to say English isn't changing - it changes all the time. But if you want to know how it's changing, go listen to the way people talk...
every night, i kneel at the foot of my bed and thank the Great Overseeing Politicians for protecting my freedoms by reducing their number, as if they were deer in a state park. -- Chris Losinger, Online Poker Players?
Shog9 wrote:
go listen to the way people talk...
Surely "Go AND Listen..." However spoken solecisms that get my goat ... Improper Prepositions Split infinitives. and It's "Different From" not "Different To"
------------------------------------ Happy Primes Lead to Happy Memories. Don't Google FGI
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No. It isn't practical or even terribly useful outside of the narrow technically-constrained environment where it evolved. I've seen more fights than i care to think about arise due to its ambiguity. That's not to say English isn't changing - it changes all the time. But if you want to know how it's changing, go listen to the way people talk...
every night, i kneel at the foot of my bed and thank the Great Overseeing Politicians for protecting my freedoms by reducing their number, as if they were deer in a state park. -- Chris Losinger, Online Poker Players?
On the other hand, a perfectly fully capitalized and spelt legal document of 18,000 words and 50 pages can still cost 'thousands of dollars' to have interpeted by people who OUGHT to understand such a thing and readily agree upon its contents and meaning - I think lawyers - come on now ... :wtf:
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Paul Watson wrote:
No, that isn't true. The languages that came before English and which contributed to English weren't wandering around with the intent that they would "construct" English. Frisian didn't have a goal to become English one day, it was just Frisian.
Never said it was true - English evolved from many other languages thats a fact, and that process has been continuing for 'a long time'. There was no point in history in which someone suddenly woke and said 'bloody hell - we're speaking english!'
Paul Watson wrote:
You can't apply hindsight to history
The classification, the actual point in history where english was deemed by someone to exist was I'm certain applied with hindsight, and I'm sure anyone listening to it today would find it difficult to believe it was english!
Paul Watson wrote:
carpet bomb other threads of history. They are threads in of themselves, not some building block to our almighty English language.
Carpet bombing history? How did I manage that?
Paul Watson wrote:
As for creationism, English wasn't the language of the Christians anyway. Jesus certainly didn't speak it.
What has religion got to do with it? :confused:
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
Steve_pqr wrote:
What has religion got to do with it?
You brought it up :)
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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On the other hand, a perfectly fully capitalized and spelt legal document of 18,000 words and 50 pages can still cost 'thousands of dollars' to have interpeted by people who OUGHT to understand such a thing and readily agree upon its contents and meaning - I think lawyers - come on now ... :wtf:
Blake Miller wrote:
On the other hand, a perfectly fully capitalized and spelt legal document
Another form of written communication that starts fights and has little in common with how real people talk. ;)
every night, i kneel at the foot of my bed and thank the Great Overseeing Politicians for protecting my freedoms by reducing their number, as if they were deer in a state park. -- Chris Losinger, Online Poker Players?
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Steve_pqr wrote:
What has religion got to do with it?
You brought it up :)
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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Creationism as applied to language rather than an evolving language was the point, although I'm sure you knew that and are just trying to wind me up...:)
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
;) Damn, stop being so level headed. This is the interwebs! I still think the "thousands of years" statement was just drama and not fact. :)
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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There's always one! Pedants, Pedants', Pedants's, Pedantses - you choose ;P
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
Steve_pqr wrote:
you choose
That would totally defeat the point of the society. Pedants don't choose, they are forced by fact and rule.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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On the other hand, a perfectly fully capitalized and spelt legal document of 18,000 words and 50 pages can still cost 'thousands of dollars' to have interpeted by people who OUGHT to understand such a thing and readily agree upon its contents and meaning - I think lawyers - come on now ... :wtf:
Thought you were talking about the Bible for a second there.
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
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;) Damn, stop being so level headed. This is the interwebs! I still think the "thousands of years" statement was just drama and not fact. :)
regards, Paul Watson Ireland & South Africa
Andy Brummer wrote:
Watson's law: As an online discussion of cars grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Bugatti Veyron approaches one.
