One more demonstration that conservatives in the USA are losing their marbles

[fpb]

The opening sentence - the opening sentence, mind you - of today's Dennis Prager column:

One of the reasons for the ascendance of the English-speaking world has been that the English language is almost alone among major languages in having the word "earn."

The man evidently knows no foreign language, and, what is more, does not expect any of his readers to. Incidentally, whatever he was paid for this column was not money well earned.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Not always.

It takes time. Did you know that "always" was one of those compounds? Germanic languages, like English, tend to compound with especial speed and enthusiasm.

Incidentally, French tends to do it more by slurring and elision. Both ways work ok, provided that the listeners know what the speakers mean. English just makes it easier to trace the linguistic history of the word's development.

For an English example of both, try "goodbye." That's "God be with you," both compounded and extensively elided and slurred.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but there's always gonna be more concepts than words in use. Certainly not the other way around. Also, I wish I knew more about French! It's the one language I really can't get the hang of.

More examples of Germanic-style compounds: nevertheless, another, bedroom, homeschool

Example of French-style compounds: howdy!

You often get borrowed words from other languages (deja vu) and coined words that use common suffixes or prefixes, like blogosphere or snarktastic