"Sometimes the sudden alteration in point of view depends on the ambiguity of the language...I strongly suspect that of all languages English lends itself the most easily to all these ambiguities of word and phrase. It has the largest vocabulary of any language, and a vocabulary, moreover, drawn from the most various sources. It is, of all the major languages, the most disorderly in spelling and the least inhibited in grammar. It is most widespread over the world, most spoken by those whose first language is something else, most dialected, most distorted, most mangled - and it has survived it all.
The result is that more games can be played with it than with any other language, and to anyone who loves English - who truly loves it - who loves the intricacies of its countless words and phrases and all its ridiculous and unruly idioms, those games represent the purest fun one can have with nonmusical sounds.
I will admit that I am intoxicated with English and that not everyone is...
But what can I do?"
- Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor
Sunday, February 22, 2009
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