tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post7181047384211177540..comments2024-03-27T20:34:09.464+01:00Comments on zmkc: How Now Thou Lovely Ploughzmkchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-66357484954845323502013-02-25T22:50:20.703+01:002013-02-25T22:50:20.703+01:00Not bad at all (what can it be like to have to shu...Not bad at all (what can it be like to have to shuffle through the possibilities and ensure you don't get the tone wrong when you start a conversation?)zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-7830682663894050752013-02-17T12:26:52.479+01:002013-02-17T12:26:52.479+01:00I remember learning that Vietnamese had 25 differe...I remember learning that Vietnamese had 25 different words for "you", depending on the relationship you had with the person you were addressing, but googling it, I can only find reference to 7 (with 7 corresponding forms of "me"). Still, not bad.Pollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18291941714980391853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-61427792461560928812013-02-13T22:29:27.335+01:002013-02-13T22:29:27.335+01:00That's a good question. I bet my brother knows...That's a good question. I bet my brother knows.zmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-17002738950883031282013-02-13T12:18:49.458+01:002013-02-13T12:18:49.458+01:00I rather like the idea of 'thou', but I da...I rather like the idea of 'thou', but I daresay, apart from 'art', we'd need 'wert' and 'wilt' as well. If 'twas good enough for the Bible [you know <i>the</i> Bible] and Shakespeare.... <br /><br />When did it disappear? Can we blame those Roundheads for starting the rot? Did he really say, "When did you last see your father?" or "When didst thou...." <br /><br />Or the Victorians much later? At school we gave either of these the blame for chipping away at everything else that was fun.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-42099066509507455472013-02-13T04:17:48.207+01:002013-02-13T04:17:48.207+01:00Or perhaps it was only the thugs who survived to m...Or perhaps it was only the thugs who survived to make the written record. I am still intrigued by the idea of a mother tongue where each person makes it clear exactly what degree of intimacy they feel they share with any interlocutorzmkchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972549292961948240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4905080602885676490.post-54129075274471698502013-02-13T01:42:55.713+01:002013-02-13T01:42:55.713+01:00"Such nuance in a language's grammar stri..."Such nuance in a language's grammar strikes me as both sophisticated and sensitive. My mother tongue seems a rather primitive tool by comparison."<br /><br />Well, Anglo-Saxon did have the two versions of the second person, also a dual that has long since dropped out of English. Yet I would hesitate to call it more sophisticated or sensitive. The last time I picked up the books purchased in college, it seemed to me that most of the verbs I encountered described either assault or robbery--but perhaps I opened to the wrong part of the reader.<br /><br /><br />Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14819154529261482038noreply@blogger.com