LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.16 (02) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 16 November 2009 - Volume 02
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From: DAVID COWLEY <DavidCowley at anglesey.gov.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.14 (03) [EN]

"By going over what they did in a game, players learn how to play
 better, to get different outcomes next time."

So what do we learn from the "what if" exercise you're proposing?

ANS: Have done it with the book, where have listed ten reasons. From
the point of view of this forum, here are a few things that came to
mind:
- Its another way to approach the topic of how many Old English words
were lost and relaced by others - one many 'ordinary' folk might find
more easy to get into than a traditional academic text book which
explained how English changed after 1066,
- insights inio how might and power can change languages, how
pressures/ choices at any one time can affect the future,
- how fragile languages can be - English is itself massively
influencing many today - looking at English helps get insights into that
- maybe help some understand that you can both loose as well as gain
from linguistic contact
- how English would have been more like Frisian/ Dutch/ Low German
- Some folk do find it fun and stimulating and that's OK isn't it?
- as I've said before, some of the lost words in their updated forms
might help people talk about the things they want to talk about (a bit
like the use of 'suchness' Ron referred to, though that seems to have
arisen out of another context).

On Luc's suggestion of getting updated OE words in the Queen's speech:
That would be very hard to do, nigh on humanly impossible, unless some
of the words were already to have got into popular use by other means.
She did once use the phrase 'annus horribilus' to describe one year, so
maybe there's hope of getting

SANDY - You said I think that you want to get more discussions going.
So what about Scots?: Do you think it will ever be a main written
language of Scotland for Education, Admin and daily use, or always a
somewhat looked-down upon 'dialect' of English, as it slowly (and sadly)
dies out? Or should it ever be, and if so why/ why not? Might Gaelic
have a safer future than Scots, even though it must have less speakers
(but in reality more respect as a 'real' language in many folks' eyes)?

Best wishes
David

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
 Subject: Lexicon

Sandy *et al.*,

In his last paragraph (about Scots), David switches subject. (We'll forgive
him this time since he's relatively new on board. ;-) )

So please respond to it separately, under "Language varieties" or "Language
politics," depending on where it takes you.

David, last week I came across the terms "thisness" and "suchness" (for the
same concept) in discussions about the evolution of Jewish spirituality and
philosophy. I don't know if this is coincidental or if there is a connection
with the use of "thusness" and "suchness" in Buddhist, especially Zen. The
terms denote something very similar, if not the same concept. At any rate, I
find their Germanic-based coinage interesting. I assume that simple,
etymologically transparent and thus readily understandable terms were deemed
necessary rather than etymologically more obscure specialist terms of Latin
or Greek origin. (I don't think there is a Hebrew term for it. The
discussion was based on works of more recent philosophers, folks that wrote
in English or German.)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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