Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

jayles

Member Since

August 12, 2010

Total number of comments

748

Total number of votes received

229

Bio

Latest Comments

“Anglish”

  • September 17, 2011, 5:04pm

rootless >>> plug-in; add-on ???
development >> betterments, research ???

“Anglish”

  • September 17, 2011, 4:52pm

AnWulf: gobbledegook is gobbledegook however you put it, whatever the tongue. It is meant to hide the truth. Most famously, a few decades ago, the British Navy got funding for a "thru-deck cruiser"; none of the politicians had the nous to ask, but yes it was an aircraft carrier, later used in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. Anglish is not the answer to everything!

“Anglish”

  • September 16, 2011, 4:30pm

AnWulf: " the 'dom' in dominatrix.." yes you're right, so dominant....
It's a great shame "doom' today means something else; otherwise we could brook "doomhouse" instead of 'court'.

"I spent so long in Eastern Europe that I became wonted to the music there especially the aeolian minors. " .... does that make sense to you???

“Anglish”

  • September 15, 2011, 7:36pm

Stanmund: "I had not the weest drift of what the Latinate 'apostasy' meant...."
Read all about it:
http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/201101/201101_102_Apost_Backslide.cfm

I think the good English word "backsliding" is quite good enough. So no more backsliding into Greek or latinate words!

On a personal note I had a better day, dealing with wise>>wisdom; bore>>>boredom;
king>> kingdom, although it is hard to uncloud the meaning of "dom". (dominatrix??)

“Anglish”

  • September 14, 2011, 6:41pm

move >> shift

OMG I pretend to be an English teacher, but all I teach is greek french and latin:
today's crop: apology, apostasy, biology etc
debris, buffet , and buffet like blown by gusts of wind which is french too but you say the final 't'. What a silly tongue English is!

“Anglish”

  • September 12, 2011, 6:41pm

"umwelt" : the online dictionary gives the meaning as slightly other than in German:
"the environmental factors, collectively, that are capable of affecting the behaviour of an animal or individual"
"Without a befitting ?habitat/environment? there are no tomorrows." >>>
"Without a befitting umwelt and lebensraum there are no tomorrows."
somewhat post-Wagnerian I think.

“Anglish”

  • September 12, 2011, 12:36am

The answer is unclouded.

“Anglish”

  • September 11, 2011, 7:29pm

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. " Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5

So we could use "yesterdays" to mean the past

“Anglish”

  • September 11, 2011, 6:44pm

Without children there are no tomorrows. (we already say this)
Without a befitting ?habitat/environment? there are no tomorrows.
There are no tomorrows in merchant banking. (just lots of dough now)

Re ranks (which if I recall is frankish in origin)
yeomen = the third order of fighting men (late 14c., below knights and squires, above knaves),

“Anglish”

  • September 11, 2011, 12:04am

Looked up "flattery" only to rediscover it's frankish..... so hard to remember these french-looking frankish words....