--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > <snip> > > They've got whole *departments* in France whose > > job it is to try to protect the language from > > "creeping bastardizations," such as the use of > > the English words "weekend." Some could say > > that it's a fool's errand, trying to protect > > the "purity of the language" this way, but I > > admire it. > > > > The problems of internationalization and English > > having become the de facto "lingua franca" of > > our age make it really *hard* to keep one's > > original language intact and preserve its > > beauty. > > Actually, one of the reasons English *has* > become an international language is because its > vocabulary is so rich with words borrowed from > other languages. By some estimates, only a third > of the words used in English came from the > original Anglo-Saxon (although these words are > the most frequently used). >
I've always undertood one of the reasons English was the worlds second language is because it's the language of science, which used to be german (and before that latin) every scientist had to speak it or not get on very well at conferences. BTW; all you decent writers are making me painfully aware my grammar is crap, I think I can spell alright but apostrophes' I'm ashamed to say I don't understand.
