Re: Ireland Acts And Yurp Twitters.

James Hogg <Jas.HoggOUT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

:On Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:10:41 +0000 (UTC), Custos Custodum
:<me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:
:>Fred J. McCall <fjmccall@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
:>news:9vamg4137kvc22imjei812umdsbqids8g3@xxxxxxx:
:>
:>> Custos Custodum <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:>>
:>>:Fred J. McCall <fjmccall@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
:>>:news:u5fjg4p1t6r4ek0scf6to47e30cht5hhlf@xxxxxxx:
:>>:
:>>:> "conwaycaine" <conwaycaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:>>:>:
:>>:>:"Fred J. McCall" <fjmccall@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
:>>:>:news:pcvgg4hbdud1lr6jafp6kdetp1ok2o2bc2@xxxxxxxxxx
:>>:>:> "conwaycaine" <conwaycaine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:>>:>:> :
:>>:>:> :I remember as a youth getting hooked on (here goes)
:>>:>:> :Leifbraumilch, <My apologies to Germans everywhere>
:>>:>:> :
:>>:>:>
:>>:>:> Close. Liebfraumilch.
:>>:>:>
:>>:>:> [It actually translates...]
:>>:>:
:>>:>:A difficult language, German.
:>>:>:The verb tenses are beyond belief.
:>>:>:
:>>:>
:>>:> German is actually a fairly easy language.
:>>:
:>>:That rather depends on where you are starting from.
:>>:
:>>
:>> Unless you're starting from Asia, German is a fairly easy language.
:>
:>I suspect there are generations of students who would disagree.
:>
:>
:>>:> Virtually all the verbs
:>>:> are regular.
:>>:
:>>:Nonsense! German has slightly more irregular verbs than English (lots
:>>:more if you count the separable forms).
:>>:
:>>
:>> Hogwash! English has pretty much all the irregular verbs of German
:>> (for obvious reasons), plus all the crap inherited from Norman French,
:>> plus a plethora of other foreign garbage that has accumulated over
:>> time.
:>
:>Few of which are irregular. 'Choose' is about the only one that comes
:>readily to mind. Feel free to provide your own examples.
:
:Choose comes from an Old English strong verb. That's why it's
:irregular. That reinforces your point, CC.
:

Oh? How's that?

:
:>
:>>
:>>:
:>>:Verbs that are irregular in English are
:>>:usually irregular in German as well. Can you guess why?
:>>:
:>>
:>> I don't have to 'guess', you stupid twat. I'm better educated than
:>> you will probably ever manage to be.
:>
:>I have yet to see any evidence of that in this or any other thread.
:>
:>>:> English, the garbage pit of languages, is much more difficult.
:>>:
:>>:At the advanced level there are lots of subtleties that are almost
:>>:impossible to codify, but anyone I have ever asked (Europeans, at
:>>:least) has found it an easy language to start learning - no
:>>:grammatical gender, simple plurals, only two verb tenses (the rest
:>>:being formed by auxiliaries), etc.
:>
:>And not forgetting: virtually no subjunctive mood.
:>
:>>
:>> Where do you people get this "only two verb tenses" crap? The joys of
:>> you only having a third grade education, I expect.
:
:No Fred, it's from having studied languages and linguistics. And
:it's a question of definition, using tense in a stricter sense to
:mean a specially inflected form, not a phrase combining several
:verbs. Cf. Wikipedia:
:
:"English has two tenses by which verbs are inflected, a non-past
:tense (present tense) and a past tense (indicated by ablaut or
:the suffix -ed). What is commonly called the future tense in
:English is indicated with a modal auxiliary, not verbal
:inflection."
:

And when did you edit that into Wiki?

Hint: Nobody takes Wikipedia as a definitive source on anything.

:
:Some languages have no verb tenses at all, but their speakers can
:still talk about the future and the past.
:

Yes, but 'some languages' are neither English nor German.

--
"Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the
truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."
-- Thomas Jefferson
.

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