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English as inveterate lexical criminal

Published by marco on

“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 riffle their pockets for new vocabulary.”
The King's English by James D. Nicoll in May 1990 (Google Groups)


Hat tip to ”English is a little bit like a child” by Mark Liberman (Language Log) for the reference.