Old Topic, New Twist

There is an ongoing debate over how germanic versus romantic English really is, as a language. I personally don't really care if it leans more one way or the other. However, I would be of the group that says that English is more germanic, when spoken, then romantic.

I think that a lot of the time the germanic words convey our true meanings, when we say things, more clearly then the romantic words do (at least most of the time).I think that all English speakers, whether they know it or not, will find a song that uses the germanic words instead of romantic equivalents move emotionally moving. This is my theory, anyway. Here are the words to a song by Dave Matthews. Someone who knows better then me, please say whether germanic or romantic words are used more often. Also, anyone else who wants to post lyrics to there favourite songs, please do so.

Baby, It's alright
Stop your cryin' now

Nothing is here to stay
Everything has to begin and end
A ship in a bottle won't sail
All we can do is dream that the
wind will blow us across the water
A ship in a bottle set sail

Baby, It's alright
Stop your cryin' now

There was a weakling man
who dreamed he was strong as a hurricane
A ship in a bottle set sail
He took a deep breath and blew across the world
he watched everything crumble
woke up a weakling again

Some might tell you there's no hope in hand
just because they feel hopeless
but you don't have to be a thing like that
You'll be a ship in a bottle set sail

Baby' It's alright stop your cryin' now
It's alright so stop your cryin' now

You'll be a ship in a bottle set sail

Most interesting.

Hmmm, I think the reason that more Germanic words are used is because they're more understandable to the general public. The Latin words in the English language are mostly "big words" which the general public may or may not be familiar with. And usually, "big words" aren't used enough, so they don't have concrete meanings. And without concrete meanings, we can't really attach any connotation to the words. And without connotations, we can't attach emotion.


Just my $0.02

:)

Well, I did a quick and dirty assessment of that song. It has some 149 words (many recurring - it's a song!) of which only 18 (including recurring words) appeared to have Latin/Romance rather than Germanic origins. That's just about 12 percent.

I think vocabulary is a very poor measure of how "Germanic" or "Romance" English is. It's the grammar you should focus on.

In my opinion, that grammar is resoundingly Germanic in character.

I looked up "Germanic" in the dictionary but I don't really get it, so obviously can't join in the discussion. How would a sentence that has Germanic words compare with one that has Romantic ones?

Are those lyrics you posted, Kazoo, Germanic or Romantic?

Oh my, I apologise for these dumb questions.

Oh, my bad, 21EL has kind of answered my lame questions before they were even posted, thanks.