Recent content by Sodak

No. Most languages, yes, but very many do not require word order at all. For example, various affixes added to roots tell tense, person, etc, rendering word order moot. Nearly all languages do have a typical preferred form, but saying the order is necessary to meaning is not always true. Xen...

Very enjoyable book to read. My only complaint is that Eco the Ego shines thru a bit too much. Even so, I recommend it.

Thank you! I'm only familiar with french, I hardly have tourist fluency. :o My point exactly. "C'est la vie" is a phrase recognized by hundreds of millions worldwide; "Vie ce la est" would earn the speaker nothing but puzzled looks. No meaning at all is a different meaning from the word order...

First, to clear up the matter about english - thru and thru a germanic tongue! Marla says that the vocabulary comes from french, which is complete bollocks. About 1/4 of english words come from latin/french - open any medical or science textbook and you'll see how most of them are accounted for...

The Dutch demise was primarily the same as their rise - economic. Amsterdam was a world-port, being the main warehouse (point B) of goods moving from A to C. They essentially invented large-scale speculation and investment in trade, which was more or less international banking. The decline of...

I vote you should just stop reading Rand. There are countless better things to pour into your brain than that drivel. Robin Hood was an altered version of the Green Knight, anyway. He stealeth whatever he wants, for it is he who giveth in the first place. :p

The english word "Dutch" derives from what the collective group of dialects were called way back when, duuts. German dialects were either deuts or diets, I can't remember which. The third were the Flemish dialects. Of course, having said that, I can't remember when this became the adopted usage...

Tho not professional, the only sports 'franchise' I hate is the university of notre dame. In particular the football team. The other sports can have their day. I have always disliked them because they have always been awarded national titles that they did not earn. My grandpa told me about...

What disappearance? The Maya, tho their hegemony collapsed in the 9th century, continued culturally for centuries, absorbing their new lowland rulers. They were not subjugated by the spanish until 1650, and even that was not complete. An autonomous Maya state was active for the second half of...

Edwin Moses, as mentioned above. Tho iirc, he never lost between 1980 and 1988 - over 100 world level competitions. He never touched the hurdle, nobody could keep close to him. Perfection! Eddie Merckx! :goodjob: The Ajax side of the early 70s - they only started losing when they began...

Heb je ooit "Montyn" door Dirk Ayelt Kooiman gelezen? Het gaat hier precies over. Hardstikke goed boek, heeel indrukwekkend. My family has many interesting tales, tho few involve any famous battles. ;) The farthest back we've traced is to a certain Jeswald who was one of the conquering...

I'm no lawyer, so I don't know the fine print. :o He tells me that there are plenty of midemeanors that will stick. Apparently, the interpretation of intent is a key factor. Moss could argue that he had no intention other than continuing on (thus admitting to a list of misdemeanor offenses)...

He said "ich bin ein berliner" - intending to say he, too, was a citizen of Berlin. The gaff, as you know, is that berliner is what a jelly donut is called. "I hate to cook" - Joan of Arc ;)

It was several years back that winning a bowl bid required more than just not having a losing record. Now there are about 30 "bowls", at least 20 of which are simply extra teevee revenue for two teams that didn't lose half of their games. Few college players today were thru high school when...

The unfairness is justified by giving the one game advantage to the team with the greater regular season success. That is the reward for having done well before that particular series. For example, if a 4th seeded team advances to play the winner of 1 vs 8, #4 plays one extra at home against #8...