[Discuss] Status ?

[Timothy Collett]

On Jul 3, 2006, at 5:43 PM, Alex Davies wrote:
> Last time someone got offended by the use of the word moron towards  
> his character, thinking it was amied at the player. He suggested I  
> pretty much learn Old English for the linguistically correct insults.

Hmm...that would be interesting, but no one would understand you.   
Old English sounded a lot like German; it was almost a completely  
different language.  You probably want to be going with *archaic*  
Modern English ;-)

And just to expand on the general topic a little, I believe moron,  
idiot, and imbecile were all part of English well long enough ago  
that we can use them.  The traditional "four-letter words" that we  
modern English-speakers think of as "swear words," along with many of  
the ruder names for things we can otherwise describe (eg, "piss" as  
opposed to "urinate"), and even the less "poetic" versions of words  
(eg, "fire" as opposed to "flame") are from Anglo-Saxon, whereas the  
more polite, more poetic versions are generally from the Latin  
roots.  This is, to my understanding, because after the Norman  
conquest of 1066, the French Normans were the upper class, and used  
the Latinate words, while the Germanic Anglo-Saxons were the lower  
class, and used the Germanic words.

So if you want to sound like a peasant, use the rude words; if you  
want to sound like a noble, use the poetic ones ;-)

Timothy Collett
Anaris Family

--

A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
~haiku~