LL-L "Lexicon" 2007.11.22 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  22 November 2007 - Volume 01
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2007.11.21 (04) [E]

From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2007.11.21 (01) [E]


"It's a mistake to think clarity can be achieved by prescribing
vocabulary against the grain of common usage, and it's a mistake to
think that you have a choice between Saxon and Latin in English: the
best choice for good English (or good any language) is the mot juste."


Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

Hi Sandy,

I sort of two-thirds agree. The danger with English being "over-classical"
is the belief that such words are somehow naturally better. This is an
affliction that I find affects non-native learners, especially those from
Africa and SE Asia; There is clearly a taught idea that "excavate" is good
English whereas "dig" is somehow "low class" or uneducated.

And this leads back to a favourite bee in my bonnet; England has largely
lost English, in a way that Scotland hasn't lost Scots or the Netherlands,
Dutch.  We have no national language in the same sense, only dialects that
are pretty well the exclusive property of the local users.

Paul

•

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