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Post by featherbee on Sept 19, 2007 19:36:46 GMT -5
Discussion of Chapter 1.
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Post by featherbee on Sept 26, 2007 19:59:32 GMT -5
Well, I had a really hard time getting into this at first, which is funny since I picked the book! I'm just one of those people who glosses right over names/dates/places, so the whole history of language in the beginning was a blur for me. But then when it started talking about the philological society, I perked up again!
A couple things I did find interesting:
-how much of an influence Shakespeare had on the English language -the fact that some countries have bodies that are in charge of maintaining the "purity" of their languages, whereas English continually evolved. For some reason, it never occurred to me that other languages might be more or less static than English.
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Post by jellen on Oct 1, 2007 17:52:54 GMT -5
I found the section on the development of the language fascinating--English truly is a mongrel language, but in a good way. Part of what made this section so interesting was Winchester's obvious delight in words, sending me to the dictionary more than once.
I, too, found Shakespeare's contribution to the language intriguing--was this covered in any of my school courses? If it was, it went over my head.
I'm also glad the English-speaking world did not form an institute to maintain the purity of the language--how dull! Part of what makes the English language so fun to use is its acquisitions from other tongues.
I liked how the author described the futility of those who did seek to limit or reform our language: ". . .no critic or advocate of immutability has ever once managed properly or even marginally to outwit the English language's capacity for foxy and relentlessly slippery flexibility."
I was also amused that the early efforts at language reference were intended so the socialites could stay abreast of each other in erudition. I was familiar with Johnson's and Webster's works, but not these earlier efforts.
I am also impressed that a group of amateurs would conceive of a project as immense as what eventually be the OED, let alone attempt it independently. I'm hooked, at the end of chapter one, to find out how far they get.
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Post by jellen on Oct 1, 2007 17:53:24 GMT -5
I found the section on the development of the language fascinating--English truly is a mongrel language, but in a good way. Part of what made this section so interesting was Winchester's obvious delight in words, sending me to the dictionary more than once.
I, too, found Shakespeare's contribution to the language intriguing--was this covered in any of my school courses? If it was, it went over my head.
I'm also glad the English-speaking world did not form an institute to maintain the purity of the language--how dull! Part of what makes the English language so fun to use is its acquisitions from other tongues.
I liked how the author described the futility of those who did seek to limit or reform our language: ". . .no critic or advocate of immutability has ever once managed properly or even marginally to outwit the English language's capacity for foxy and relentlessly slippery flexibility."
I was also amused that the early efforts at language reference were intended so the socialites could stay abreast of each other in erudition. I was familiar with Johnson's and Webster's works, but not these earlier efforts.
I am also impressed that a group of amateurs would conceive of a project as immense as what eventually be the OED, let alone attempt it independently. I'm hooked, at the end of chapter one, to find out how far they get.
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