Path: ...!news.mixmin.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: [OT] Is English just badly pronounced French?
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 03:25:16 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 32
Message-ID: <uual2s$1g1g4$2@dont-email.me>
References: <20240330222810.000036a5@example.com> <uuaiha$1fi9l$1@dont-email.me> <20240330230047.00003c68@example.com>
Injection-Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 03:25:17 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="34319cd3626ebbb6a2b9d51c284dbf18";
	logging-data="1574404"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/ONAobh/cC+SPYtcMClzKrtjDKFGt2Hc0="
Cancel-Lock: sha1:k7xUu4wodsRALdlj+fzyrlHcJDA=
X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test77 (Sep 1, 2010)
Bytes: 2411

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
>Sun, 31 Mar 2024 02:41:46 -0000 (UTC) Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

>>>I apologize in advance to Americans who are inevitably aggrieved by
>>>all things French just on principle but this video actually makes a
>>>pretty good case for saying that English is badly-pronounced French
>>>to a large extent.  

>>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUL29y0vJ8Q [18 minutes]  

>>>When he explains all the English words that are borrowed from French
>>>with only slight spelling and pronunciation changes, you may well be
>>>persuaded by his argument.   

>>Of course it is. The Norman invasion turned English into the
>>international language that it is, with about 45% words with Latin
>>roots. Thereafter, English borrowed any word from any language it
>>needed. Didn't make the spelling work too good.

>>In the nineteenth century, French scholars threw out their loan words
>>and purified the language, making it useless as an international
>>language.

>French was the court language of many monarchies, including the Russian
>one, and also the language of diplomacy until WW I. But it certainly
>wasn't widely spoken by the masses outside France and its empire. 

It had been the language of diplomacy. 19th century treaties were
negotiated in France. No more. English is the language of commerce.

The French had an advantage then pissed it away.