The Allusionist: 18. Fix part II
September 15, 2015 10:22 AM - Subscribe

The messiness of English is the price of its success. It is the most widely spoken language in the world, geographically, being an official language in 88 different countries, and there are countless different versions of it all over the world. With so many speakers in so many places, it would be impossible to establish a single 'correct' form of English; and, as became evident in Fix part I, to try to do so is a losing game.

Full Show Notes and Additional Reading.

Mailchimp randomly selected word: gleet
posted by jazon (2 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I really enjoyed the discussion of the EU language. However, and perhaps this is because of my legal training, I was surprised that Helen thought using the word "actor" for "someone who takes action" was unusual.

("Actorness" is definitely unusual.)
posted by robcorr at 3:58 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]


This was awesome and I shared it with all of my expat peeps.
posted by bq at 5:46 PM on October 25, 2015


« Older WWE Raw: Season Premiere / Nig...   |  Podcast: This American Life: #... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments