Forum menu
Well start with using all the letters in a word and in the right order.
At what exact point in time did we decide that words which have been spelled in various different ways depending on dialect and century had settled into the form they needed to take from now onwards?
Anyone who has tried to read literature from Chaucer onwards can see language moving like a river. I don't think we can just arbitrarily decide to stick a dam across and fix it in place, it will keep on changing from generation to generation.
GrahamS, no that's exactly what he did.
Bear in mind that he was very fond of malapropisms, and so were his audience, he used words with obvious double meanings that you have to translate and be aware of the Elizabethan subtext, but there's any number that have changed totally since written into play form by Shakespeare.
Twas briling is Lewis Carroll
Yes, I know. Like molgrips I was trying to give an example of another famous author making up words, by citing the most famous made-up word poem of all.
Bear in mind that he was very fond of malapropisms
Indeed. One of his most famous lines is [i]"No! Handles for forks!"[/i] 😉
Yes, I know. Like molgrips I was trying to give an example of another famous author making up words, by citing the most famous made-up word poem of all.
Whilst I appreciate that, there is a significant difference in the underlying purpose of the "made up" words in the two contexts.
the language did not (was not allowed to) develop in the early days of the colony.
Who did not allow English to develop in colonial America?
Who did not allow English to develop in colonial America?
I am not sure anyone, my recollection of the analysis is a bit hazy so I tried to put down the alternatives, rather poorly.
I'm going back to using Johnson as my reference, as he was the first to attempt/publish an English dictionary. If it's not in there it isn't valid!
Did someone say, 'English' English?
I'm going back to using Johnson as my reference, as he was the first to attempt/publish an English dictionary. If it's not in there it isn't valid!
And even though that was met with most enthusiastic contrafribularities, it did cause some pericombobulation at [url=
time[/url].