• SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    9 months ago

    I kind of want to learn some Middle English stock phrases to grill anyone who complains about the changing nature of English being just political correctness. Like, “You want to be a language conservative? Here’s some Chaucer-era language motherfucker.”

    • noodlejetski@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      here’s my favourite one: the oldest known use of singular “they” dates back further than the use of singular “you”, and it’s so old that it was still spelled with a thorn (þei)

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      9 months ago

      Or people complaining about language changing in general. Not only are they usually wrong (eg “literally” has been used as a figurative intensifier for hundreds of years), they just happen to define the “correct” use of words as whatever they learned as kids.

      • Armok_the_bunny@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        Please, anyone who reads this, stop posting links to the mobile version of Wikipedia. It doesn’t switch automatically on PC, and I see it happen all the time. Just take the half a second to remove the “.m” from the beginning of the link, save everyone else from the pain of having to be surprised by it and taking the time to do it themselves.

        • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          I thought it’d been switching automatically for years. Might be wrong. Guess there’s a TamperMonkey script for it then.

          Copy/paste tip, at least on iOS: use the share sheet (share icon), where they’ll give you the desktop URL - instead of copying from the URL bar.