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June 13, 2017
Why is English so weirdly different from other languages?
There is exactly one language on Earth whose present tense requires a special ending only in the third‑person singular.I’m writing in it. I talk, you talk, he/she talk-s – why just that? The present‑tense verbs of a normal language have either no endings or a bunch of different ones (Spanish: hablo, hablas, habla). And try naming another language where you have to slip do into sentences to negate or question something. Do you find that difficult? | Aeon Essays
Posted by gerardvanderleun at June 13, 2017 7:41 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
I also wonder if anyone else requires a politically expedient slash of masculine/feminine pronouns?
Posted by: Casey Klahn at June 13, 2017 8:28 AM
Personally, I don't know no Spanish or Franch but I speak Eanglish real good and as I do, I usually don't substitute adverbs for conjunctions or end sentences with prepositions or adverbs but sometimes I do to let people know where I'm coming from, there.
Posted by: Jack at June 13, 2017 8:40 AM
Before you try to straighten out the language you must first straighten out the alphabet. There's at least 5 letters too many, maybe even 10.
Posted by: ghostsniper at June 13, 2017 9:01 AM
For an explanation, I recommend "The History of English" podcast. Our history is embedded in our language like DNA.
Posted by: Clinton at June 13, 2017 8:29 PM
I am conversational in Spanish and Tagalog. Both of those languages have their quirks.
Posted by: Snakepit Kansas at June 14, 2017 5:26 AM
I thought that was a Girl Scout cookie.
Posted by: ghostsniper at June 14, 2017 6:22 PM