Balderdash

I find this a fascinating programme, Balderdash and Piffle, on BBC2 on a Monday night, about the history of words. I did linguistics and the history of language at college two decades ago and always found it interesting. The great vowel shift that travelled across Europe that change 'a' to 'ay' in some circumstances across all European languages around the 1650s or thereabouts, softening vowels (except for Geordies and Celts, of course) - loads of interesting stuff.

Tonight we have Germaine Greer looking at 'cunt' and Courtney Pine considering the history of the word 'cool'.

English is such a vibrant language, adapting and growing as needed, from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Woolf to Viz, all using English to send the exact message they want to deliver. English is made up of so many other tongues, with French derived words dominating the legal system as a hang-over from the Normans who imposed the bones of our legal system, the Vikings who gave us many of our place names in the north east and north west of the country from their invasions, from the empire in the 19th century, particularly from India (ever wondered where 'pyjamas' comes from?).

It grows, it evolves, it changes meanings. Perhaps that's why it's (currently) the dominant language on the planet. More people speak various forms of Chinese (mainly Mandarin) and Spanish, but everyone learns English because it's the standard language of trade and entertainment in so many countries around the world.

Of course, I still don't always understand 'American English' but that's another matter ...