And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Monday, March 14, 2016
How fast has the English language changed?
In the Icelandic sagas, the Norse speaking Egil Skallagrimsson and his brother hired themselves out as mercenaries to one of the Anglo-Saxon kings in what is now England, and with some effort he could understand and be understood by the locals even though they spoke different languages. Back then, the two languages hadn't diverged as much as they have today. English is a quickly changing language.
In 1994 I was in France and understood English, as spoken, perfectly. Just 4 years later, I could understand very little of the English being spoken in London.
ReplyDeleteIt probably wasn't English
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