"Ursprache"?

[redneckgaijin]

Excuse me, Mr. Scripp and Mr. Howard?

That word? You know, the word that girl won with?

It's not English.

Repeating.

IT IS NOT ENGLISH.

Nor is it a "borrowed" foreign word in common usage.

IT'S FUCKING GERMAN.

GERMAN.

In Scrabble the rule is English only. Why is that not good enough for you?

What next- will next year's spelling be require the memorization of Chinese words, with spelling to be given by naming the characters used to write the damn things?

Because, well, FUCK.

Comments

[faxpaladin.livejournal.com]

It's probably used in literary or scholarly circles or something. 'Cause if they gave it, then it has to be in the dictionary of reference (Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary unabridged, if memory serves).

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Someone in another discussion of this said it's a term used in (English) linguistics studies. That makes it professional jargon and acceptable.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Some languages absorb terms from other languages. English chases other languages down dark alleys and mugs them for terms. Or mangled quotes to that effect.

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

English lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

Ah, found the entire quote:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
- James Nicoll

[bar1scorpio.livejournal.com]

Either way, it's not english. There's enough complext words in the english language already, don't you think? Like, 40k +?? Most with latin roots?