Instapundit never does anything on linguistics, so far as I recall. But they linked to this excellent piece,
English Is Not Normal, by John McWhorter, a great favorite of mine. I have seen much of this material in other essays and lectures of his, but much is new to me.
I circulated this one around--need to find other stuff by him.
ReplyDeleteI thought it's what happens when other people invade and impose new words on you, and when you go out into the world and bring others back,but now I'm guessing it's that plus the willingness to grab onto anything that seems useful. After all, hasn't everyplace been invaded by somebody else or a LOT of somebody elses? And didn't McWhorter say most other countries do language quite differently?
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