Comments on: English is a Crappy Language

By: chrispian

chrispian — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 15:53:25 +0000

er, sorry, catching.

By: chrispian

chrispian — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 15:52:47 +0000

Maybe the problem isn’t language at all. Maybe the fact that your trying to tell someone how you feel in a single sentance was your mistake. We say things without meaning them too often also, which makes it harder to say things we mean when we mean them. “I love you” being so over used it has become as meaningful as “hello” and “goodbye”.

Crap, your rambling is cathing!

By: Jeremy C. Wright

Jeremy C. Wright — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:45:50 +0000

Jenn, entirely possible. But what would you suggest to actually tell someone how much you appreciate meeting them or to tell your wife how much you love her?

I can think of terms in Spanish, Italian, Latin and Russian that do all of these because they are “proper” and are meant for a certain level of respect.

By: Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 23:08:57 +0000

Jeremy, the “really, really” is ok with me! Really ;)

I think we’d have the same problem whatever the language, as in “mucho de verdad” as the rough equivalent of “really, really.” It might sound and look better in Spanish but it lacks that crappiness we all love in English, don’t you think??

By the way, Shel and I talked about you again in our weekly podcast today…

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 23:02:37 +0000

not to be mean or anything, but you may want to open up a thesaurus. english is one of those languages with many words that are almost never used in ‘normal’ conversation. most people don’t take the time to learn new words and how to integrate them into everyday speaking. because of ‘lack of use’ many expressive (yes, arguably niche) words become obsolete; this pigeonholes many speakers because a wonderfully expressive term may have fallen to disuse.
i am a native engligh speaker, but i’ve lived in different countries and had to learn the common-speak to ‘get along’. i will readily admit that in other countries people just seem more expressive… on the other hand, there’s a kooky-ness to american english in how it seems to just suck in words and expressions from other countries. i really believe that people just don’t take the time to expand their vocabularies here in america. so maybe it’s not the language that’s crappy, but rather the vocabularies of the speakers…

By: Clete R. Blackwell 2

Clete R. Blackwell 2 — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 20:08:00 +0000

or “ubermuchso”?

That Euro-English thing was hilarious :D.

By: Zach Holman

Zach Holman — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:49:49 +0000

Of course “really really” doesn’t fit the job. A better thing to say is “doubleplusgood”.

By: Jon Berg

Jon Berg — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:17:02 +0000

Being a computer freak I belive in standardization for communication protocols… Everybody should speak the same language, because this would not limit the amount of people you could talk to. What language should that be? Maybe english is too flat, but it is the language most spoken. Verstheen Sie was Ich sage… Forstår du hva jeg sier? Forstår ni hva jag seier? The germans and french think that their language is the best and they ‘protest’ by ignoring to learn english.

By: Devin Reams

Devin Reams — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:01:57 +0000

No worries, we've got Euro-English. ;-)