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

There was a review of a concert many years ago which said:

"The XXX Orchestra played Brahms last night. Brahms lost."

Perhaps some of the orchestra were Brahms and Liszt. Sorry.

Ictoan, 'with' used to mean 'against', and this meaning is still preserved in some cases, just to confuse English learners.

Jack is right. The Old English word "wither", from which we get "with", meant "against".

wither meant against? Oh. i always thought it meant 'where' as in lost. I.e. "He knows not whither he goes". Just goes to show what I know

I like the concert review one, very good!

So, these 'ithers' then, what are they all about? Hither, thither, wither. Sounds like there should be some more, yither? I suppose that's me thinking of 'yonder' though.

to here, to there, to where.

hence, thence, whence.
from here, from there, from where.

So, thinking about it, would that be wither as in widdershins? I believe the 'widder' bit is the 'against' bit which would link to what you said earlier. so is widder acutally just an older/different spelling of wither or a derivative?

When I said Old English, I meant Anglo-Saxon, which was pre-Norman Invasion. Our with comes the Old English "wiÞer". But our whither comes from the Old English "hwider".

They are still used in German. You can't just say "where" ("Wo") if movement is involved. You have to discern between going to and coming from.

"Wo kommst du her" means "Where do you come from" (or "where have you been? - i.e. "where are you coming from at this moment?") and "Wo gehst du hin" means "where are you going (to)?"


Has anyone changed their way of speaking in any way as a result of things said on this thread?

I hope this posting will not be moderated because they say they're clamping down on foreign languages. Foreign to England that is. (Not Britain, the word is carefully chosen, as I expect even Welsh will be censored)

I wish I knew what sparked this foreign-language-postings problem off.

F19585?thread=190857

We were having a little fun with some Franglais, or Frenchlish, as it is probably to be known as in future.

Yes, I now habitually use Old English in RL following Gnomons instructive posts and guide entry.

Seriously, it has helped more in my written language (although you may not guess that fromt he posts here!). Mainly this is in formal writting for business documents. It just helps to present a more professional approach.

I have had Welsh moderated even though there is a whole BBC Online section devoted to the language (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru).

Are we professionals? Wow?!?!?

Ictoan, I'm glad to hear that someone reads my Entries!

Be doubly glad Meester Gnomon.
Or probably 'very' glad as I'm sure many people saw and felt your anger. Justifiable outrage, terse, succinct and to the point. Your comments regarding the announcement are an inpsiration. I wish I could have said it as well.
~j~

Posting 4842 reminds me of an American usage:

Bach wrote Mass in A. But Massenet never wrote Bach.

eh?

Quite clever that.

Oh, the other one is the theatre review of a production of 'King Lear', where the reviewer said of the leading actor, 'He played the King as though someone had already played the ace.'

that reminds me of the classic quote (do you know the source?) "There's lots here that's original and good. Unfortunately what's original isn't good and what's good isn't original".