TIL: Today I Learned

[Hrothbern]

Joris Luyendijk heeft geretweet
Bryan MacDonald‏Geverifieerd account @27khv 45 min.45 minuten geleden
Russians now drink less alcohol than the French and Germans. Alcohol consumption is down 80% in only 5 years. Former President Dmitry Medvedvev introduced tough new licensing laws in 2010, kick starting a campaign to reduce drinking levels.

 

[Snerk]

Interesting. Medvedvev and Putin's generally sobering approach to alcohol is probably a big part of their popularity among their electorate. The russian people remember too well what it's like to have a drunk as president under the Yeltsin years.

 

[Takhisis]

Medvedvev and Putin's generally sobering approach to alcohol

Pun?

 

[Snerk]

Pun?

I guess kinda but not really.

 

[Gori the Grey]

TIL: "Englishry" is a word.

 

[Arakhor]

What's more, it needed to be presented.

 

[Kyriakos]

English isn't really a language, so its ok ^^

Seriously: it goes with being a sort of universal language, that yours will be crippled. After all, remember what the etymology of the term solecism is ^^

Spoiler :

from the town of Soloi, which was said to - due to distance from the rest of the greek world - be using a very lowly version of greek.

 

[Mouthwash]

Yeah, I don't get why English deserved to become the Global Language. Apparently French is a lot more logical and consistent, and Spanish even allows you to know the pronunciation of words by how they're spelled!

 

[Kyriakos]

Yeah, I don't get why English deserved to become the Global Language. Apparently French is a lot more logical and consistent, and Spanish even allows you to know the pronunciation of words by how they're spelled!

A glaring reason would be the existence of the Usa.

 

[Gori the Grey]

And before that the UK. "Sun never sets . . ." and all.

 

[Kyriakos]

And before that the UK. "Sun never sets . . ." and all.

Apparently it still wasn't the main language used in mainland Europe, in negotiations, nor the main second language picked up (?). Eg in Greece i think it was french at the time, although english was also prominent. By now - of course - the second language (here) is 99,9% of the time english

 

[Gori the Grey]

Right, but the British Empire paved the way for that to occur on US's watch.

 

[Arakhor]

I'm not sure if you're aware, but what Gori was referring to a Norman term defining the legal status of someone of Anglo-Saxon ethnicity and nothing to do with the English language.

 

[Kyriakos]

I'm not sure if you're aware, but what Gori was referring to a Norman term defining the legal status of someone of Anglo-Saxon ethnicity and nothing to do with the English language.

I am sure that doesn't matter, once it is used with a different meaning. Or are you one of those purists who wish to hate-crime shame alternative and local use of englezic language?

 

[Arakhor]

Two people misunderstanding something on an Internet forum does not constitute a valid alternative usage.

 

[sophie]

Yeah, I don't get why English deserved to become the Global Language. Apparently French is a lot more logical and consistent, and Spanish even allows you to know the pronunciation of words by how they're spelled!

spelling =/= language.

The way a language happens to be spelled has no bearing on the logic dictating how it is spoken.

All languages are internally consistent. It's an essential quality of being a language that it is predictable and modular both to facilitate acquiring the language and to ensure mutual comprehension between speakers.

 

[Mouthwash]

spelling =/= language.

The way a language happens to be spelled has no bearing on the logic dictating how it is spoken.

And where, pray tell, have I claimed (or implied) this? I said that it is useful to be able to actually speak a word after reading it.

All languages are internally consistent. It's an essential quality of being a language that it is predictable and modular both to facilitate acquiring the language and to ensure mutual comprehension between speakers.

False. English is littered with arbitrary rule/convention violations for no good reason.

 

[sophie]

I don't see where I claimed or implied that it did.

Yeah, I don't get why English deserved to become the Global Language. Apparently French is a lot more logical and consistent, and Spanish even allows you to know the pronunciation of words by how they're spelled!

This is not true. English is littered with arbitrary rule/convention violations for no good reason.

Give me an example for which you couldn't find an equally arbitrary rule/convention violation in, say, Spanish or French.

Just as some quick examples: when I learned por/para in Spanish we had a single page listing all the rules explaining when to use por vs when to use para. THEN you turn the page over and are greeted with two pages explaining all the exceptions to the rules that had just been explained on the previous page.

Latin has a use of the subjunctive called "The Subjunctive by Attraction", which is, as my Latin professor at Berkeley explained, essentially times when the subjunctive is used by Latin speakers for which we really have no logical explanation and we have to settle for "They used the subjunctive there because they do that"

 

[Gori the Grey]

I'm not sure if you're aware, but what Gori was referring to a Norman term defining the legal status of someone of Anglo-Saxon ethnicity and nothing to do with the English language.

I came across it in G. E. Elton's England Under the Tudors. There it refers more to various forms of domination of Scotland and Ireland by political/cultural forces from England. I'll dig up the precise quote. Don't have the book at hand right at the moment.

 

[Mouthwash]

Give me an example for which you couldn't find an equally arbitrary rule/convention violation in, say, Spanish or French.

Pointless. I can't personally list enough English examples to match every single example in Spanish and French. But I'm pretty sure that there are a lot fewer.