Best quote I've read in a while!
From A.A. Gill of the Times (can't find original article unfortunately):
Anger has driven the English to achievement and greatness in a bewildering pantheon of disciplines. At the core of that anger is the knowledge that they could go absolutely berserk with an axe if they didn’t bind themselves with all sorts of restraints, of manners, embarrassment and awkwardness and garden sheds.
I found it at Language Log, a new interwubs haunt of mine that caters to my paddling in the shallows of Linguistics.
Anger has driven the English to achievement and greatness in a bewildering pantheon of disciplines. At the core of that anger is the knowledge that they could go absolutely berserk with an axe if they didn’t bind themselves with all sorts of restraints, of manners, embarrassment and awkwardness and garden sheds.
I found it at Language Log, a new interwubs haunt of mine that caters to my paddling in the shallows of Linguistics.
no subject
/random comment from a chick who went to your primary school who is now a linguist.
no subject
From my brief counterstalking, it appears we were both at Hartwell in 1985, me in Prep and you in Grade 2.
I am not a linguist, an ex once did a first year subject in it so I read her Uni notes, and all the phonemes, etc. seemed too bland.
Reading pop linguistics websites and pop science books about and referring to linguistics is more fun. :)
I also like etymology and hate bad grammar and whomever took spelling off the curriculum. ;p