Is English's large vocabulary detrimental
<<Anyway, what's the problem? All useful. If you know maths, you know osculate. Probably botanists know saxicolous. Perfidious Albion. MPs' cupidity. Ebullient BoJo. We're...convivial vivisectionists. >>
Just because "some people know it" doesn't mean it should be considered an English word.
What about "eucalyptus gomphocephala" or "hydatellaceae"? Some people know it. Should it be considered an English word, or some kind of Latin-loanword-technical-jargon?
What about "cyclotetramethylene" or "oxacyclopentane"? Some people know it. Should it be considered an English word or some kind of Greek(?)-loanword-technical-jargon?
<Just because "some people know it" doesn't mean it should be considered an English word. >
None of the words mentioned were special. You'd find all of them in a £20 dictionary.
It's not about a word being 'special'. It's about a word belonging to the set of everyday used words or belonging to experts techincal jargon. You can't expect everyone being an expert in everything, just because it happens that you are an expert in one or in some special subjects.
Here in Germany, there's a SF series called Perry Rhodan. It's about 2500+ novels upto now, and some additional stuff, too. One novel per week. It features a special terminology, some kind of very complex 'con-technology' (constructed technology), con- and xenobiology and a very very very complex con-history (constructed history) of mankind. There're also some sketchy conlangs (constructed languages). You can buy one novel for somewhat 2 Euros. It would take you years to become an expert in that literaric parallel universe. (There's also a PR lexicon, of course, don't know how much it is and if it is still in print.) If you don't know this series and if you would listen to some fans' conversation, you would probably recognize that they speak German, but barely understand what's the converstion is all about, even if you are a native speaker. You would not even know where to look up the unknown words. You don't find them in an ordinary lexicon. -- You see the problem?
<<"Such is the case", you mean, maybe. >>
No, I meant "such is the 'fall'..", which is the same basic meaning conveyed by 'case' (i.e. "a fall").
<<None of the words mentioned were special. You'd find all of them in a £20 dictionary. >>
What I am about to say is not personal or directed toward you BrE2, but this is the type of attitude and spirit that has gotten English in the mess it's in. Where does this inordinate fascination over hyper-Latinisms stem from??? It's weird, archaic.
Perhaps the root of English (and British) preoccupation with high-minded words is Inferiority.
Any psychologists out there who can perhaps confirm this?
Do you think you will get a honest answer from psychologists? Mind you, they too do use this kind of ''high-minded'' words, most likely because they know they're inferiour.
<<inferiour>>
--Really?
You do wrengthen yourself--there is no alternate British spelling "inferiour" for 'inferior'.
You must be a psychologist ;)
"What I am about to say is not personal or directed toward you BrE2, but this is the type of attitude and spirit that has gotten English in the mess it's in. Where does this inordinate fascination over hyper-Latinisms stem from??? It's weird, archaic"
But you seem to love using them: in your short post you used 11 Latin/Greek-derived words ('personal', directed, 'type', 'attitude', 'spirit', 'mess', 'inordinate' 'fascination', 'hyper', 'archaic'). Perhaps some of these words ('hyper' 'archaic', etc.) were also exotic sometime in the history of English.
Anyway, I think it would have been very difficult for you to express what you wanted to say without employing those non-Germanic words.
<<But you seem to love using them>>
With all due respct, you are wrong :)
I do not love them, nor do I seem to love them.
I use them for sake I have no choice. I am forced to brook them, like a heavy oppressive yoke put upon me by my slithe ("cruel") taskmasters.
<<Anyway, I think it would have been very difficult for you to express what you wanted to say without employing those non-Germanic words. >>
True, but the inverse (--sans words of Germanic extraction) would have been more difficult if not completely impossible. I could have written in Anglish, using resurrected words, but you it would have appeared almost like a foreign language to all. Not very noteful when trying to get your point across.
Those are normal Latinates, we're talking about "I'm a c***" Latinates like "osculate" for "kiss". If someone ever says to me "oh man, I just osculated this hot chick" I would gladly see them dead.
<<"oh man, I just osculated this hot chick">>
And now I don't even know whether I used it right.
Who would know whether they used it right or not? Is it "I osculated her", "we osculated" or "I osculated with her"? Most people would just guess randomly, and probably use it wrong. That just emphasises the stupidity of such words.
<You see the problem? >
Not really, twohyphens.
There are words you don't know. There are words I don't know. Maybe there are words you know and I don't. Maybe vice versa.
That's a problem?
<No, I meant "such is the 'fall'..", which is the same basic meaning conveyed by 'case' (i.e. "a fall"). >
I'm sorry, I thought it was a direct translation from the German.
<Where does this inordinate fascination over hyper-Latinisms stem from??? It's weird, archaic. >
It's not a fascination. When they're the word you want, use them. When they're not, don't. That's all.
They're just noises, Leas. No big deal.
>> Perhaps the root of English (and British) preoccupation with high-minded words is Inferiority.
Any psychologists out there who can perhaps confirm this? <<
The inferiority complex only exists in those who are actually concerned with such matters.
BrE2 Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:23 pm GMT
<You see the problem? >
<<Not really, twohyphens.>>
The two dashes form a VHDL comment symbol, thats behind it. VHDL is a hardware description language.
<<There are words you don't know. There are words I don't know. Maybe there are words you know and I don't. Maybe vice versa.
That's a problem?>>
That's not a problem as long as we don't communicate with one another.
But if someone constantly uses weird words in everyday speach, this would be annoying.