I picked up a short video series at the library this week on The Story of English. Last night's episode discussed the many different languages were brought into Old English, resulting in subtle nuances to the different words. Words which are nearly synonymous aren't quite, but lend precision to the language.
I think that's one thing I like so much about English. You can get just the right word. When I try to communicate in sign language, there's so much I struggle to say. I might know the right sign for a word, but it's not exact enough, and that frustrates me.
Friday, June 08, 2007
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I agree. "Words are alive - cut them and they bleed." As a reader (and a writer) you get to know words, to feel them and be friends with them, and English is nothing but a wealth of words; for everything it lacks in logic and consistency, it gains in character (so to speak). I would hate it if I always were forced to say many, and never myriad, or could not say revenant. And a world without homunculus, coeval, negate or convolute! I shudder at the very thought.
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