h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

as professor higgins once remarked;

"the americans haven't spoken english for years"





xx

That's true in one state at least. In either Illinois or Indiana (I forget) the official language is American, not English

"the scotch and the irish leave you close to tears...
there even are places where english completely disappears...
in america, they haven't used it in years!"
there's another good section in the song too:
"arabians learn arabian with the speed of summer lightning
the hebrews learn it backwards which is absolutely frightening
in france every frenchman learns his language from a to zed*
well, the french never care what they do, actually, so long as they pronounce it properly!"

my fair lady is excellent


*spelling? i have no idea, as my only additional language is german, and my knowlege of that is poor as well

You're the second person to recite lyrics to me today. I wish I were more musically inclined

Have I ever mentioned that the character of Henry Higgens was based on an actual philologist by the name of Henry Sweet? You may remember him as the original compiler of Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Reader and Sweet's Anglo-Saxon Primer. Or not.

Uhh, not. (To both)

Is it just me, or are historians devoting a lot of effort into anglo-saxon?

Just havin' fun, Jodan.

no kidding! anglo-saxon seems to be an extremely large focus!

So, I'm not crazy?

?

You guys are kidding, right?

If you're not kidding, do you mean on H2G2 or out in the real world?

If you mean on H2G2 it must be my influence because I don't think anybody else knows that "Anglo-Saxonist" isn't a synonym for "white-supremicist".

If you mean in the real world, I haven't noticed it.

Oh, and Jodan: no, you are crazy.

give us a little credit. Even I knew who Anglo Saxon was before I came to h2g2.

And I meant in the real world and h2g2.



(PS, I know anglo saxon isn't a who)

but seriously, all joking aside (no, really, I'm not joking now) you're serious. You think there's been an increased focus on Anglo-Saxon? I haven't noticed it myself. But there was an article in the Old English Newsletter (no, really, it exists. I've got a subscription) a few years ago that suggested that we were about to enter a rennaisance of Old English studies. Are you guys really noticing this? And if so, give me some details.

(see, no smileys, I really am being serious)

I've just noticed an overall increase in these sorts of things. I can't give details, because I haven't got any. I'm sure you've contributed to this though.

I've read quite a few entries involving old english, and it doesn't strike me as strikingly important as say... modern things.

No joking. No smileys, except...

ah, it's probably just me.

Are there modern things that are important?



return of the

why don't you turn it into an "ask the community" thread?

I haven't written a single entry on history, except the monitor and the merrimack, which I simply copied from an old research paper of mine.

I keep wondering what a hitchhiker needs history for

(still)

you're kidding right, Jodan? pretty much all you've written has been history.

Well, what you've bothered to read.

This marks the precedent of my new entries becoming modern. I'm making a conscience effort to do this (EG Toasting in Georgia, Visitng the Grand Canyon), though I have to avoid writing about the history of chess in India and Roman Emporers...

chess in Roman Emporers? "Emporers"?!