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Dying languages.

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By *lasbi OP   Man
3 weeks ago

WH

Was reading earlier on the BBC about a Welsh (I assume casual/slang) word “poody” being added to the Oxford English Dictionary after it was used by two Welsh kids in Race Across The World. Fair enough, if it’s conversational and used whilst they are speaking English. But later in the article, the showed that ten other Welsh words were being added too; words that are categorically Welsh, which no English speaker would be able to understand, nevermind pronounce. Why are these words being added to the English dictionary at this time if noone outside of Welsh-speaking-Wales understands them?

My concern is just that this promotes the death of smaller languages as it blends languages that will eventually become one. The world becoming smaller is great for travelling for holidays, but a massive negative is the loss of the beauty of how cultures went their own ways for hundreds/thousands of years.

P.S give us a rating out of 10 for the horniness of this post on a late Friday night

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By *lackbootzMan
3 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx


"Was reading earlier on the BBC about a Welsh (I assume casual/slang) word “poody” being added to the Oxford English Dictionary after it was used by two Welsh kids in Race Across The World. Fair enough, if it’s conversational and used whilst they are speaking English. But later in the article, the showed that ten other Welsh words were being added too; words that are categorically Welsh, which no English speaker would be able to understand, nevermind pronounce. Why are these words being added to the English dictionary at this time if noone outside of Welsh-speaking-Wales understands them?

My concern is just that this promotes the death of smaller languages as it blends languages that will eventually become one. The world becoming smaller is great for travelling for holidays, but a massive negative is the loss of the beauty of how cultures went their own ways for hundreds/thousands of years.

P.S give us a rating out of 10 for the horniness of this post on a late Friday night "

(I’m not sure I’d give you a specifically high mark for horniness…)

However it is a highly interesting post. And especially this remark: “My concern is just that this promotes the death of smaller languages as it blends languages that will eventually become one.” Very observant.

It’s called the phenomenon of cumulative syncretism. Beliefs, practices, traditions, linguistics - absorbed into the dominant culture through interactions with others. Long-term assimilation and absorption. Modern English (global, media-driven) is an especially devouring language.

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By *airyandbelliedbottomMan
3 weeks ago

Barrow-in-Furness


"Was reading earlier on the BBC about a Welsh (I assume casual/slang) word “poody” being added to the Oxford English Dictionary after it was used by two Welsh kids in Race Across The World. Fair enough, if it’s conversational and used whilst they are speaking English. But later in the article, the showed that ten other Welsh words were being added too; words that are categorically Welsh, which no English speaker would be able to understand, nevermind pronounce. Why are these words being added to the English dictionary at this time if noone outside of Welsh-speaking-Wales understands them?

My concern is just that this promotes the death of smaller languages as it blends languages that will eventually become one. The world becoming smaller is great for travelling for holidays, but a massive negative is the loss of the beauty of how cultures went their own ways for hundreds/thousands of years.

P.S give us a rating out of 10 for the horniness of this post on a late Friday night

(I’m not sure I’d give you a specifically high mark for horniness…)

However it is a highly interesting post. And especially this remark: “My concern is just that this promotes the death of smaller languages as it blends languages that will eventually become one.” Very observant.

It’s called the phenomenon of cumulative syncretism. Beliefs, practices, traditions, linguistics - absorbed into the dominant culture through interactions with others. Long-term assimilation and absorption. Modern English (global, media-driven) is an especially devouring language. "

I suppose with over a billion speakers Mandarin is too.

I heard that Welsh speakers are doing a Shakespearean play in Welsh I can't imagine it's going to do well outside of Wales

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By *lackbootzMan
3 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx


" … I suppose with over a billion speakers Mandarin is too.

I heard that Welsh speakers are doing a Shakespearean play in Welsh I can't imagine it's going to do well outside of Wales…"

“I suppose with over a billion speakers Mandarin is too.”

No. Completely wrong. It’s an asyncretic language. Because the culture behind it is a monoculture. Mandarin and the culture behind it is a dominating not an assimilating phenomenon. Mandarin speakers don’t want to absorb the words of other languages and use them, they try to replace them with Mandarin if they have a word for that existing concept. They only use the words of other languages for external concepts and universal words that already have enough currency. English and Mandarin are at the opposite ends of linguistic syncretism.

“I heard that Welsh speakers are doing a Shakespearean play in Welsh I can't imagine it's going to do well outside of Wales.”

I doubt the initiative was primarily for an export market…

But you’d be surprised how stagings of popular classics in deliberately “alienating” re-settings or language can be very successful.

And, after all, is every opera-goer fluent in period Italian?

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By *hortSubGuyMan
3 weeks ago

ROCHDALE

The re-setting of Sir Ian McKellan's film version of Richard III into a 1930's thinly veiled Spanish Fascist Dictatorship was exceptionally well done.

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By *arridMan
3 weeks ago

Brighton

I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot.

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By *lackbootzMan
3 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot. "

Sed aliis debes loqui. omnes amici sumus.

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By *yzantineMan
3 weeks ago

Offshore now, ignore pistcode

I read that the Danish publishing industry is dying as they absorb so much in English that their own literature is now being overlooked. It wouldn’t surprise me if the same happened in Holland - a language I enjoyed learning for the hell of the pronunciation and obscurity

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By *ammy aka SammyTV/TS
3 weeks ago

Bedford

There are over 3000 French words in the English language words we hardly ever associate with being French, restaurant for instance e English language is entwined entirely with words from around the world x

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By *leinhundMan
3 weeks ago

Dublin

This is a very good point. Many french phrases too like ménage à trois!

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By *ugh40Man
3 weeks ago

Wetherby

Anyone for Polari ?

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By (user no longer on site)
3 weeks ago

I think the history of humanity has been languages coming and morphing, in some cases simply being lost and human culture will continue in that vein.

No matter the nature of the language, local dialects and customs always have an impact and a bit like the radiation from a black hole, there is always a subtle signature of what was swallowed up, if you know how to look for it.

English has not been the same even for the last few hundred years and it will continue to change, develop and merge with other languages as it has done throughout its history, and the languages around us will do likewise. In 300 years it will be totally different to how it was today.

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By *leinhundMan
3 weeks ago

Dublin

I don't understand the grammatical changes in the English language. For example I notice in England people say "I am sat" or "I am stood" when it should be "I am sitting" or "I am standing"! I hear this a lot on the TV also.

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By *tar33Man
3 weeks ago

North London (outer)


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot. "

I studied Latin in my first two years at Grammar School. It was always spoken with an English accent.

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By *tar33Man
3 weeks ago

North London (outer)


"This is a very good point. Many french phrases too like ménage à trois!"

Speaking of which, do you have any idea of the French word for 'entrepreneur'?

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By *tar33Man
3 weeks ago

North London (outer)


"I don't understand the grammatical changes in the English language. For example I notice in England people say "I am sat" or "I am stood" when it should be "I am sitting" or "I am standing"! I hear this a lot on the TV also. "

Scottish English seems to use different tenses in sone situations.

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By *SAOFMan
3 weeks ago

Work/Play in London, live in Kent


"Was reading earlier on the BBC about a Welsh (I assume casual/slang) word “poody” being added to the Oxford English Dictionary after it was used by two Welsh kids in Race Across The World.

…

P.S give us a rating out of 10 for the horniness of this post on a late Friday night "

0. But 9 for interestingness.

The most interesting thing about the article from the BBC was that this word is an example of a banana borrowing. This is a word that was borrowed from one language to another, and then borrowed back to its original language.

The English “Pout” became the Welsh “pwd” and had a “u” added as that’s what they do with names of things.

English may have started in England, but it is no longer the preserve of the English nation. If “Poody” is understood by English speakers in Wales it is just as valid as something understood by English speakers in Ireland (cf craic), in the US (cf yins), Australia (cf schoolies) or the Caribbean (cf wagwan).

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By *rueguyMan
3 weeks ago

notts


"Anyone for Polari ?"

Bona eek. Yer gaff is naff. Varda the lallies on the omi polone. How's me riah looking today?

😂 😂

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By *ugh40Man
3 weeks ago

Wetherby


"Anyone for Polari ?

Bona eek. Yer gaff is naff. Varda the lallies on the omi polone. How's me riah looking today?

😂 😂"

😇🤣🤣🤣🤣

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By *ildwestheroMan
3 weeks ago

Llandrindod Wells


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot. "

Got quite a good grade in Latin 'O' Level. Never helped me much in life and forgotten most of it.

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By *0yguyMan
3 weeks ago

Cumberland

Northern English, with a lot of Norse influences is merged with lowland Scots, so words like “mithered”, “switherin’” and “gan” are regularly used. In the same way after the Norman invasion of England Saxon English has become merged with Norman French. All these processes have given English as we know it today a rich and nuanced vocabulary with many subtleties of expression.

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By *ugged NorthernerMan
3 weeks ago

North East


"Northern English, with a lot of Norse influences is merged with lowland Scots, so words like “mithered”, “switherin’” and “gan” are regularly used. In the same way after the Norman invasion of England Saxon English has become merged with Norman French. All these processes have given English as we know it today a rich and nuanced vocabulary with many subtleties of expression."

Agreed 👍 the Geordie accent is very similar to the Scottish accent and can be hard for some people to tell the difference especially the further south you go

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By *evanianMan
3 weeks ago

Flintshire

"Cos thee keck a bow agin a wow un yed eet til thee bosts eet?"...

Only the good folks of a certain part of England would under this old example of dialectic English!

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By *arridMan
3 weeks ago

Brighton


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot.

Sed aliis debes loqui. omnes amici sumus.

"
veni

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By *arridMan
3 weeks ago

Brighton


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot.

I studied Latin in my first two years at Grammar School. It was always spoken with an English accent."

It’s tricky because I can’t roll my ‘r’s so sound like a barbarian from some cold, wet end of the Empire.

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By *ammy57TV/TS
3 weeks ago

Stevenage

10

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By *ammy57TV/TS
3 weeks ago

Stevenage

More seriously

I'm told that there are sometimes whole concepts, ways of understanding , that are lost when languages die?

So a hunter gatherer civilisation that lives in a forest or a desert

May have a different imagery (and consequently understanding) on how they envisage the concept of life.

An agrarian culture in a seasonal climate may focus more on concepts of a cyclical nature?

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By *tar33Man
3 weeks ago

North London (outer)


""Cos thee keck a bow agin a wow un yed eet til thee bosts eet?"...

Only the good folks of a certain part of England would under this old example of dialectic English!"

Clay Heads?

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By *ickSeekerMan
3 weeks ago

Canterbury


"I don't understand the grammatical changes in the English language. For example I notice in England people say "I am sat" or "I am stood" when it should be "I am sitting" or "I am standing"! I hear this a lot on the TV also. "

I've always thought it's badly, lazy spoken English. And it sounds awful, especially to my foreign ear hammered and trained to learn and speak 'proper' English in the prehistoric era of my childhood as a third language (second foreign), but heck! Languages er...'evolve' ain't it? 🤷🏽‍♂️

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By *ildwestheroMan
3 weeks ago

Llandrindod Wells

Languages evolve. If we could meet someone from middle-age England would we be able to hold a conversation with them? Likewise, fast forward to say 2500, would we understand what they say, or they us?

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By (user no longer on site)
3 weeks ago

Oddle Poddle

Spoken in Bill and Ben

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By *tephen_b50Man
3 weeks ago

Bristol


"There are over 3000 French words in the English language words we hardly ever associate with being French, restaurant for instance e English language is entwined entirely with words from around the world x"

And the French, of course, have "le weekend", "le sandwich", "le football", "le camping" ... i believe the Academie Francaise has tried to stem the assimilation of "anglicismes", wringing its hands and prophesying the end of civilized standards

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By *tephen_b50Man
3 weeks ago

Bristol

[Removed by poster at 27/09/25 13:10:02]

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By *ondonjeansMan
3 weeks ago

Russell Square/Euston


"There are over 3000 French words in the English language words we hardly ever associate with being French, restaurant for instance e English language is entwined entirely with words from around the world x

And the French, of course, have "le weekend", "le sandwich", "le football", "le camping" ... i believe the Academie Francaise has tried to stem the assimilation of "anglicismes", wringing its hands and prophesying the end of civilized standards "

And many French people wouldn't even recognise the above words as not being of French origin. I particularly like le shampooing...

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By *tephen_b50Man
3 weeks ago

Bristol


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot.

I studied Latin in my first two years at Grammar School. It was always spoken with an English accent.

It’s tricky because I can’t roll my ‘r’s so sound like a barbarian from some cold, wet end of the Empire. "

Not necessarily barbarian - it can sound quite elitist:

"Centuwian! Thwow him to the gwound! Wait until my fwend Biggus Dickus hears of this!"

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By *arridMan
3 weeks ago

Brighton


"I’m learning Latin. I talk to myself a lot.

I studied Latin in my first two years at Grammar School. It was always spoken with an English accent.

It’s tricky because I can’t roll my ‘r’s so sound like a barbarian from some cold, wet end of the Empire.

Not necessarily barbarian - it can sound quite elitist:

"Centuwian! Thwow him to the gwound! Wait until my fwend Biggus Dickus hears of this!"

"

“ He wanks as high as any in Wome!”

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By *0yguyMan
3 weeks ago

Cumberland


"There are over 3000 French words in the English language words we hardly ever associate with being French, restaurant for instance e English language is entwined entirely with words from around the world x

And the French, of course, have "le weekend", "le sandwich", "le football", "le camping" ... i believe the Academie Francaise has tried to stem the assimilation of "anglicismes", wringing its hands and prophesying the end of civilized standards

And many French people wouldn't even recognise the above words as not being of French origin. I particularly like le shampooing... "

Shampoo, veranda , bungalow and pyjamas…. All English words adopted from the British in India.

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By *roperWankBuddyWantedMan
3 weeks ago

Warrington


"Was reading earlier on the BBC about a Welsh (I assume casual/slang) word “poody” being added to the Oxford English Dictionary after it was used by two Welsh kids in Race Across The World. Fair enough, if it’s conversational and used whilst they are speaking English. But later in the article, the showed that ten other Welsh words were being added too; words that are categorically Welsh, which no English speaker would be able to understand, nevermind pronounce. Why are these words being added to the English dictionary at this time if noone outside of Welsh-speaking-Wales understands them?

My concern is just that this promotes the death of smaller languages as it blends languages that will eventually become one. The world becoming smaller is great for travelling for holidays, but a massive negative is the loss of the beauty of how cultures went their own ways for hundreds/thousands of years.

P.S give us a rating out of 10 for the horniness of this post on a late Friday night "

Un. Efallai dau.

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By *lackbootzMan
3 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx


"I don't understand the grammatical changes in the English language. For example I notice in England people say "I am sat" or "I am stood" when it should be "I am sitting" or "I am standing"! I hear this a lot on the TV also. "

Without wanting to sound super nerdy… these are actually different in grammar: they represent different aspects of the verb action and do have a certain difference in meaning. Though they are often not used correctly and are nowadays mixed up. (Which is part of the flexibility/laxity of modern English as this thread discusses.) “I am sitting / I am standing” are present continuous tense. No past aspect. The action is ongoing. It’s a very simple concept. “I am sat / I am stood” are perfect tense from the present aspect. It’s more complex. I have taken a seat and am now sat… I have taken a standing position and am now stood… It now concentrates not on the basic ongoing action but often on witnessing the positions the sitter or stander has taken. And is often used in idiom with a locative sense - ie where? So - Q: “What are you doing right now?” A: “I am sitting in my seat.” Q: “Where are you?” A: “I am sat near the stage.”

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By (user no longer on site)
3 weeks ago


"I don't understand the grammatical changes in the English language. For example I notice in England people say "I am sat" or "I am stood" when it should be "I am sitting" or "I am standing"! I hear this a lot on the TV also.

Without wanting to sound super nerdy… these are actually different in grammar: they represent different aspects of the verb action and do have a certain difference in meaning. Though they are often not used correctly and are nowadays mixed up. (Which is part of the flexibility/laxity of modern English as this thread discusses.) “I am sitting / I am standing” are present continuous tense. No past aspect. The action is ongoing. It’s a very simple concept. “I am sat / I am stood” are perfect tense from the present aspect. It’s more complex. I have taken a seat and am now sat… I have taken a standing position and am now stood… It now concentrates not on the basic ongoing action but often on witnessing the positions the sitter or stander has taken. And is often used in idiom with a locative sense - ie where? So - Q: “What are you doing right now?” A: “I am sitting in my seat.” Q: “Where are you?” A: “I am sat near the stage.”"

A good distinction well drawn.

A counterpoint would be that there is no legal and codified “correct” grammar standard to which we are all expected to comply.

Those texts which record British English grammar as is are simply recording what was current at the time of writing, not what is correct. Years ago they will have recorded different grammatical elements as thing have been in constant change since the dawn of language and they will be in constant change until life on earth is extinguished.

Those of us who are trying to demand everyone complies with their understanding of what is correct will forever find themselves farting against thunder.

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By *lackbootzMan
3 weeks ago

Hayes, Middx


"… A counterpoint would be that there is no legal and codified “correct” grammar standard to which we are all expected to comply.

Those texts which record British English grammar as is are simply recording what was current at the time of writing, not what is correct. Years ago they will have recorded different grammatical elements as thing have been in constant change since the dawn of language and they will be in constant change until life on earth is extinguished…"

Exactly correct.

English mutates. And if A can understand what B means: job done. No need for the old niceties if it works. A lot of neologism, grammatical vagueness, imprecisions allowed to stand are because the meaning was understood so correction is redundant.

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