Re: New "Doctor Who" comes to the U.S.

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 03:54:20 +0000 (UTC), Wesley Struebing
<strueb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:47:25 +0000 (UTC), Methuselah Jones
><methuselah@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Matt
>>Ion of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated make plain:
>>
>>> Methuselah Jones wrote:
>>>
>>>> Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of
>>>> Matt Ion of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated make plain:
>>>>
>>>>>One of my favorite quotes about the English language is that it "has
>>>>>at times followed other languages down a dark alley, beat them up,
>>>>>and rifled their pockets for spare vocabulary."
>>>>
>>>> Where is that from?
>>>
>>> Don't recall, exactly... I read it as one of those little footnote
>>> blurbs in a Reader's Digest once, I think. You can probably find it
>>> on the 'net if you're really worried about it :)
>>
>>I tried googling it, but I think I was too specific, as I didn't turn up
>>anything. I wanted to add it to my quotes file, but I like to have
>>accurate attributions where possible.
>
>Well, I don't know who this guy is, but I've heard that, too. Here's
>what an English website says:
>
>'"Not only does the English Language borrow words from other
>languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over
>the head, and goes through their pockets." - Eddy Peters'
>
>The url is:
>http://malcolmfarnsworth.com/english/usage/

As mentioned in another portion of this thread...

The quote comes from a Usenet post at rec.arts.sf-lovers in 1990 by
James Nicoll.

The following is from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll
-------------------
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.

Originally from Usenet article
<1990May15.155309.8892@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> (1990), updated in
Usenet article <bi5d3u$hjl$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> (2003)

(This observation is extensively quoted even outside of Usenet, and
has appeared in textbooks. It has also been misattributed, in part and
in whole, to Booker T. Washington and, in one case, to the painter
James Nicoll (1846?1918).)

-----------------------
--
John Duncan Yoyo
------------------------------o)
Brought to you by the Binks for Senate campaign comittee.
Coruscant is far, far away from wesa on Naboo.

.

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