How English has changed over the last 1000 years

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[PDXFonz]

I'm ready for some scrabble. Fyllyng for 500 pts.

I wonder how many people go to school and study old English.

 

[barfo]

The Old English version actually translates to:

Set fire to the forests. Shit in the rivers.
Sleep with your sister, or I'll cut off your nuts!
Kill the Arabs! And anyone else that seems to need it!

barfo

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

King Alfred the Great

 

[jlprk]

This is what this board needs. Culture. Rasta should post to this. We need some etymology threads too. Looking at the top, it says 23rd Psalm. Makes me wonder, how did "psalm" get spelled "psalm"?

 

[Minstrel]

Looking at the top, it says 23rd Psalm. Makes me wonder, how did "psalm" get spelled "psalm"?

An old contraction of "facepalm."

 

[crandc]

I took a class on that a few years back. Fascinating stuff. What I remember is why in English the words for meat (pork, beef, mutton, venison) don't match the words for animals (pig, cow, sheep, deer). Before the Norman conquest, Old English was spoken. The Normans brought in all the Latin based words and began the transition to Middle English. The Normans, as conquerers, claimed the land and the game, while the conquered Saxons were forced to provide meat for their tables. The Saxons used the Saxon words for the animals (pig, cow, etc.) while the Normans used the French words for the meat (porc, boeuf, venison, mouton).

Languages, like everything else, evolve.

 

[MarAzul]

King Alfred the Great

I drove by that everyday gong to work in Winchester, on the way to Hursley House.

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

I drove by that everyday gong to work in Winchester, on the way to Hursley House.

Nice! Long live the King!

 

[maxiep]

Interesting. And all this time, I never realized Mike Tyson was merely speaking Old English.

 

[santeesioux]

Where does "i fart in your general direction" come from then?

 

[maxiep]

Where does "i fart in your general direction" come from then?

Well, you're in Oregon and I'm in Colorado, so...the West?

 

[jlprk]

Need more culture.

 

[bodyman5000 and 1]

So Englich iz like fashun...sicklical.