Over lunch, Bob and I disagreed on several aspects of the English language and its origins.

According to Bob, English

1. has fewer irregular verbs than ‘typical’ languages (and is generally more regular)
2. is predominantly influenced by Latin and Greek

I disagree with both of those notions (English is more irregular and predominantly influenced by its Germanic roots) and am recording the disagreement here before we each run off to Wikipedia to find out the real story.

Affect or effect quiz?

Hey! No looking at my answers before you take the quiz!

Why? you may ask. Because Jazz’s teacher was feeling insecure about whether she had chosen the correct spelling on her report card (she had). I wanted to explain the difference or suggest a litmus test, but I couldn’t. Which made me feel insecure. But now I don’t

Why now? you may also ask. Because I just came across the words trivalent and ditransitive and they reminded me of my conversation with Jazz’s teacher. Hey! Do the quiz before you read my hints! D’oh! Too late!

I don’t think anyone over the age of 7 should use the word “yummy”.

Ah! So that’s ok then,

Well, objectively (and it’s Orwell’s original usage), I am pro-Kim Jong-Il,

There is something vaguely ironic about quoting Orwell to justify the creative redefinition of a commonly used word like “pro”.

I find the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis - the idea that thought is constrained by language - to be fascinating.

Here’s a variation on it from The Guardian

Take the Portuguese president of the European commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, for example. Barroso has an extraordinary knack: when he speaks English he not only talks but thinks like an Englishman; when he speaks French, he not only talks but thinks like a Frenchman. To hear him alternate from one to the other can be quite disconcerting, almost as if he’s switching between a left and right brain.