Then

[N80]

I get led and lead wrong, along with a lot of other fine points of English. But not when and where it matters. I know what my limitations are and when I'm writing anything remotely important I check myself. I would mention that the combination of autocorrect plus typos makes for interesting errors.

[Telecaster]

I cheated: Coghill.

;-)

The class I took was Coghill free, though the professor encouraged us to read his translation outside of class. I wish I'd kept my cassette recordings of the proceedings, particularly those featuring me & my fellow students mangling spoken Middle English. The prof was a jovial cockney and the class was great fun.

-Dave-

[GrahamBy]

English constantly is picking up technical terms. It also adopts words from the French (the French won't reciprocate), German, etc., etc.

Someone bitterly remarked that the last technical term French contributed to the world was "chauffeur".

Unofficially of course, everyone puts their car in le parking, and they suffer under le management. And in one of the most amusing forms of revenge on the extremely conservative and right-wing Académie Française, the children of upper-class parents often pick up arabic phrases from their nannies and these gradually sneak into the language. The common term for a medical practitioner is "toubib", for eg.

Then again, sometimes the quest for precision is amusing: since the French for "to land" (as in an aircraft) is atterrir (put onto the earth), it was decided that a new word was needed when the Americans started parking things on the moon. hence the officially recognised "alunir."
There is of course the disadvantage that a new verb is needed every time someone bounces a space-probe off an asteroid or other bit of orbiting rock 

[Rob C]

Someone bitterly remarked that the last technical term French contributed to the world was "chauffeur".

Unofficially of course, everyone puts their car in le parking, and they suffer under le management. And in one of the most amusing forms of revenge on the extremely conservative and right-wing Académie Française, the children of upper-class parents often pick up arabic phrases from their nannies and these gradually sneak into the language. The common term for a medical practitioner is "toubib", for eg.

Then again, sometimes the quest for precision is amusing: since the French for "to land" (as in an aircraft) is atterrir (put onto the earth), it was decided that a new word was needed when the Americans started parking things on the moon. hence the officially recognised "alunir."
There is of course the disadvantage that a new verb is needed every time someone bounces a space-probe off an asteroid or other bit of orbiting rock 

Cross-fertilisation can be fun, and le weekend does seems to work in both idioms. I was out with friends yesterday - folks I knew in my late teens (old friends?) - and I'd suggested lunch in this French restaurant I usually go to because, I'd said, the man's cooking had that certain je ne sais quoi; during lunch the wife threw that little phrase back into the conversation and it led to another diversion into their own French wanderings... Old friends, mixed languages and good food are very pleasant companions.

There, that made everybody's day now, didn't it!

I'll give you a picture just for fun:



;-)

Rob

[GrahamBy]

Ah, evocative image...

[Telecaster]

There is of course the disadvantage that a new verb is needed every time someone bounces a space-probe off an asteroid or other bit of orbiting rock 

I imagine the verb for the Rosetta probe's recent "landing" on comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko will be quite a mouthful.

-Dave-

[Telecaster]

I'll give you a picture just for fun…

Ah, that's my idea of a delightful way to spend a quiet afternoon.

-Dave-

[JNB_Rare]

I know that I've been guilty of language and grammar mistakes. But I took heart when I heard the Rhodes scholar Tony Abbott say that "No one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced … is the suppository of all wisdom." Thank goodness for Tony. I was feeling decimated about my lack of language skills.

I worked for a Canadian book publisher for 20 years (fortunately for them, I was not involved in the editorial side). I remember well some of the "all staff" meetings when the President would pull a quote or two from Richard Kipling of Jungle Book fame. Or tell us that the company would be successful if we all worked hard, irregardless of the downturn in the market.

[N80]

But I took heart when I heard the Rhodes scholar Tony Abbott say that "No one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced … is the suppository of all wisdom."

Intelligence, knowledge and education are not necessarily the key ingredients to wisdom. I've known some very wise people with little or no education at all. I've known a whole lot really well educated and knowledgeable people with little or no wisdom at all.

And for those lean Judeo-Christian there is Proverbs 9:10.

[Rob C]

Graham, Dave: glad you enjoyed the snap! It would have been delightful to have been able to write schnapps instead, but that would be fakery: I think it was coffee.

;-)

Rob

P.S. Well, it is early morning for me, after all. 10:25!

[GrahamBy]

Café corretto ? 

[Rob C]

Café corretto ? 

Or even a carajillo, but I think they usually come with a smaller cup or glass, but I'm guessing: I always have a café con leche descafeinado de máquina. Much more pleasant than using the little sachets. (Some here, women, like to partake of herbal teas... I wonder why?)

I'm supposed to have no more than one coffee a day; on Wednesday, out with the old friends I met after so many years, I actually downed four, or possibly even five. Good reason for the solitary life: avoids temptation! Well, partly so.

Rob

[Jeremy Roussak]

And for those lean Judeo-Christian there is Proverbs 9:10.

There are quite a few pithy summations. Keats, for example:

Beauty is truth; truth, beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

He stole adapted the thought from a rather earlier Frenchman.

Jeremy

[Jeremy Roussak]

I took heart when I heard the Rhodes scholar Tony Abbott say that "No one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced … is the suppository of all wisdom."

I've come across a few suppositories of presumed wisdom over the years.

There was a round a while ago in a very silly quiz (I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue), in which the contestants were invited to change one letter of a word to produce a useful new one. My favourite was "ignoranus": a person who combines knowing nothing with being a pain in the arse.

Jeremy

[Telecaster]

 

A friend of a friend mentioned last night that she was observing Ocsober, by which she meant "no alcohol for the month." This was in response to my offer of a shot glass of tasty Montelobos Mezcal Joven as we sat down to watch the Cubs/Giants baseball game.

A couple decades ago, when The X-Files was at the height of its popularity, I was part of an online chat group centered on the show. Over the years various typos were embraced and incorporated into our chat vocabulary. My favorite was absucted, which we used to describe the plight of anyone obliged to do something they didn't want to do.

-Dave-