XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:54:31 +1200, Your Name   
    wrote in   
      
   in rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.books:   
      
   > In article <8d2g6bywkmat$.q1oq91x7g0b2.dlg@40tude.net>,   
   > b.scott@csuohio.edu wrote:   
      
   >> On Wed, 28 Aug 2013 18:21:06 +1200, Your Name   
   >>  wrote in   
   >>    
   >> in rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.books:   
      
   [...]   
      
   >>> Yes, but the English invented the language (okay, they   
   >>> stole it from various other languages),   
      
   >> Neither statement is correct.  For that matter, the notion   
   >> that there is only one English is incorrect.   
      
      
   > Both parts are correct. "English" is made up from various   
   > other languages, some based in what is now Great Britain   
   > and some from other countries further afield, including   
   > German, French, Latin, etc.   
      
   No.  English has borrowed considerable lexicon from other   
   languages, but it is in no sense a mixed language: it   
   descends by normal transmission from Proto-Germanic.   
      
   >>> so they morally have the right to be able to change it if   
   >>> they want to.   
      
   >> It isn't a matter of rights or morality.  It's simply how   
   >> languages work: they change.   
      
   > Languages don't change - people change them, mostly people   
   > too lazy or too stupid to use it the correct way.   
      
   You could hardly be more wrong.   
      
   And you’ve just demonstrated that you know nothing of   
   historical linguistics or sociolinguistics, the two most   
   relevant specialities within the broad field of linguistics.   
      
   > The French actually have a committee that officially   
   > accepts or rejects changes to the French language. Of   
   > course that doesn't stop the people out on the street   
   > making up all sorts of words and phrases themselves, but   
   > it does stop them becoming an official part of the   
   > dictionary.   
      
   It does not, however, keep the language from changing.  It   
   is one of the silliest institutions around.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)