# Why is our language like it is? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2019, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123 "2019-04-06T10:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/41 "2019-04-07T10:58:19Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Yes, English can be weird. It can be understood through tough, thorough thought though. Dude. I read it just fine at first. Then I re-read it and by the time I got to “though” I figured it was gibberish you had just made it up as a silly tag to all the “t—gh” words. Then I thought: “Damn… that’s a word!” English is so weird it can confuse a native English speaker (me) into not even recognizing a simple word! ETA: I think a comma after “thought” would be good. But WTF do I know? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/42 "2019-04-07T11:43:51Z")
> [@robby](#): > > The English word “police” comes from from Middle French _police_ (late 15c.), from Latin _politia_ “civil administration,” from Greek _polis_ “city.” [Cite](https://www.etymonline.com/word/police). > > The English word “louse” comes from Old English _lus_, from Proto-Germanic \*_lus_, from PIE \*\*lus-\*. [Cite](https://www.etymonline.com/word/louse#etymonline_v_14553). The plural “lice” (Old English _lys_) shows effects of [i-mutation](https://www.etymonline.com/columns/post/imutate) (which was how plurals were formed in Old English, just like _mouse-mice_). > > In short, there’s absolutely no connection between the words “police” and “lice.” It’s just a coincidence. Couldn’t have explained it better myself. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/43 "2019-04-08T00:48:24Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > However, one might point out that the “con” in “congress”, the one in “confluence”, the one in “consume”, and many other places all come, indirectly through French and other romance languages, from the Latin “cum”, which means “with”. But languages just grow. And English is especially bad being essentially a creole of Anglo-Saxon and French, with Anglo-Saxon already a mix of West and North Germanic languages. Not surprisingly a mess. And with the original Anglo-Saxon heavily influenced by Welsh and Danish before the French got their hands on it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/44 "2019-04-08T17:16:07Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > However, one might point out that the “con” in “congress”, the one in “confluence”, the one in “consume”, and many other places all come, indirectly through French and other romance languages, from the Latin “cum”, which means “with”. Please, this is a family message board. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/45 "2019-04-08T19:29:12Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > So, Thudlow Boink and Yllaria, why don’t you recommend some specific books and podcasts? I haven’t gone searching, but I’m subscribed to Lexicon Valley and History of English Podcast. The first guy has a tendency to play show tunes and old pop tunes as examples. The topics bounce around. The second guy has a voice that’s soothing enough that if you’re sleepy, it could send you off. It follows an outline and I’d suggest listening from the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/46 "2019-04-08T22:11:33Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > 👹 > > Because it’s a troll post. A post by a person who joined yesterday, posted this one question, and has never logged in again. > > This obviously wasn’t a serious question. I thought so as soon as I read it. He’s probably laughing his ass off that he got so many serious answers. > > It should have been deleted by the moderators soon after it was posted. On a scale of one to Troll, this was a zero. Nobody’s even irate. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/47 "2019-04-08T22:38:08Z")
[How can there be any sin in sincere?](https://youtu.be/dimtK2hvT8Y?t=106) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/48 "2019-04-09T15:44:11Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I haven’t gone searching, but I’m subscribed to Lexicon Valley and History of English Podcast. The first guy has a tendency to play show tunes and old pop tunes as examples. The topics bounce around. The second guy has a voice that’s soothing enough that if you’re sleepy, it could send you off. It follows an outline and I’d suggest listening from the beginning. “The first guy” (the host of Lexicon Valley) is the aforementioned John McWhorter, who’s also written a lot of quite accessible books on language, and is indeed a big musical theater buff, judging by the clips he uses in his podcast. McWhorter teaches at Columbia, and is probably one of the more prominent professional linguists working today. The host of the History of English Podcast is Kevin Stroud. He’s a lawyer, not a professional linguist, but he is very knowledgeable on the topic. I second the recommendation to start listening to this one from the beginning, although it’s notable that his sense of weaving an ongoing narrative wasn’t quite as strong in the beginning. The podcast definitely improves as he goes along, and becomes more confident in what he’s doing. It’s also fun to notice, in one of the early episodes, that his original plan was to limit the podcast to 100 episodes: 1-25 on precursors to English, 26-50 on Old English, 51-75 on Middle English, and finally 76-100 on Modern English. In fact, he’s up to episode 123 and is only just now getting to Chaucer. Obviously, like fighting ignorance, explaining the history of English is taking longer than he thought. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/49 "2019-04-09T15:50:24Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I haven’t gone searching, but I’m subscribed to Lexicon Valley and History of English Podcast. The first guy has a tendency to play show tunes and old pop tunes as examples. Lexicon Valley is a Slate podcast and is hosted by John McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Columbia. His shows are excellent although he does have an unnatural love of old show tunes so every show features a tune or two from a show, usually dating back pre-1970 although he has recently included a sample from the hit musical _The Band’s Visit_. Another podcast about language that is well done is A Way With Words, although the focus is generally on the origins of obscure phrases rather than mainstream language evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/50 "2019-04-09T16:37:08Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > 👹 > > Because it’s a troll post. A post by a person who joined yesterday, posted this one question, and has never logged in again. > > This obviously wasn’t a serious question. I thought so as soon as I read it. He’s probably laughing his ass off that he got so many serious answers. > > It should have been deleted by the moderators soon after it was posted. As to the OP, **shrug** maybe they’re a drive-by, maybe they only have access to the internet once a week. If we’re answering, then we’re having fun. Also making sure that anyone who wanders in via Google is properly notified that there were problems with the initial premise, but mostly we’re having fun. And I just found a new podcast to subscribe to, so: win. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/51 "2019-04-09T16:42:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The bigger false assumption in the OP is that some authority decides to create English words. No wonder it seem like people just made up all the words. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/52 "2019-04-09T18:24:46Z")
No offense, but I can’t imagine this question being asked by anyone but a small child or a troll, sorry. Even a person who speaks English as a second language should know this. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/53 "2019-04-09T22:20:42Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > And with the original Anglo-Saxon heavily influenced by Welsh and Danish before the French got their hands on it. Unfortunately the Welsh influence on English is negligible. The Angles & Saxons were too busy killing the Welsh to talk with them. Once the Danish got done killing English and settled in, they talked with them plenty and creolized the northern dialects of Old English. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/54 "2019-04-10T17:30:13Z")
More examples of Rastafarian linguistics: **Overstand** —The Queen of England cannot understand the Rastaman, but the Rastaman can _overstand_ the Queen of England. **Downpression** —You have to say downpression to tell the truth of the matter, not _op_pression, because there’s nothing “up” about it. Bob Marley sang “Woe to the downpressors.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123/55 "2019-04-10T19:36:08Z")
That reminds me of [a demand manifesto from a group of nutbags](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/10/western-washington-university-students-push-sweeping-demands) to a university, where they spelled “history” as “hxstory” and “person” as “persxn” because they wanted to “degender” the words, but were actually demonstrating that they were about as knowledgeable about etymology as the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-our-language-like-it-is/832123.md?page=2)