this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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Showerthoughts

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It's been 30 years and I still can't get over the fact that the French word for "potatoes" is "ground apples." Have The French never had an apple? (midwest.social)
submitted 4 weeks ago by sxan@midwest.social to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[–] sxan@midwest.social 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You can't include English in any rational discussion about languages. It breaks every rule, and isn't one language, but a pidgin of three or four. It's a bastard of a language, and what-about-ism involving English is so trivial it's not worth debating. You can always find a worse example of any language linguistic stupidity in English.

[–] Enkrod@feddit.org 5 points 3 weeks ago

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.

Writer James D. Nicoll

[–] scroll_responsibly@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Is this a copypasta?

[–] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It is now

[–] sxan@midwest.social 2 points 3 weeks ago

The James Nicoll quote is better - use that instead.