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Moderator: Jon O'Neill
Maori has 8000 speakers in the UK.Marc Meakin wrote:The only notable omission I could find is Afrikaans and Maori.
Not that I know anyone that can speak either.
And much less interesting.Edwin Mead wrote:We could do away with all these languages (and this poll) if everyone learnt Esperanto. The world would be a much simpler place.
I think that Esperanto is much more glamorous in my daydreaming mind, where I foresee a harmonious world where everybody speaks one ridiculous 'fictional' language.Charlie Reams wrote:And much less interesting.Edwin Mead wrote:We could do away with all these languages (and this poll) if everyone learnt Esperanto. The world would be a much simpler place.
You'll have the Tautological Police Of Tautologies on you...Edwin Mead wrote: Hence why
Not that I think we should do as he suggested, but in some ways it would be more interesing - like we could talk to pretty much anyone.Charlie Reams wrote:And much less interesting.Edwin Mead wrote:We could do away with all these languages (and this poll) if everyone learnt Esperanto. The world would be a much simpler place.
You're mellowing Charlie. I recall a similar slip (Martin Gardner) I think and you told him you'd be hitting him right now. What's going on? Is it age-related? Say it ain't so - I love watching you running people out of the forum, is this going to end?Charlie Reams wrote:You'll have the Tautological Police Of Tautologies on you...Edwin Mead wrote: Hence why
Fair point. I think I'm happier with the current trade-off, though.Gevin wrote:Not that I think we should do as he suggested, but in some ways it would be more interesing - like we could talk to pretty much anyone.
I have tried but you're too bloody stupid to notice.David O'Donnell wrote:PS You're going to run me outta town now aren't you?
That wouldn't really be more interesting. Think of the amount of boring people there are on the planet. It's more interesting when there's a language barrier between them and they have to play charades and pictionary to communicate. Besides, there's something like nearly a billion fluent English speakers in the world already and only about two thousand of them are interesting; adding another five-and-a-half billion won't shake things up that much.Gavin Chipper wrote:Not that I think we should do as he suggested, but in some ways it would be more interesing - like we could talk to pretty much anyone.Charlie Reams wrote:And much less interesting.Edwin Mead wrote:We could do away with all these languages (and this poll) if everyone learnt Esperanto. The world would be a much simpler place.
I love being criticized here. In real life, I'm forever criticizing others for their bad English, so it's nice to see a forum where people can be castrated for their grammatical errors. I learn from my mistakes and then pass this on to others. So you're welcome to hit me, Charlie.David O'Donnell wrote:You're mellowing Charlie. I recall a similar slip (Martin Gardner) I think and you told him you'd be hitting him right now. What's going on? Is it age-related? Say it ain't so - I love watching you running people out of the forum, is this going to end?Charlie Reams wrote:You'll have the Tautological Police Of Tautologies on you...Edwin Mead wrote: Hence why
PS You're going to run me outta town now aren't you?
"Hence why" is one of those errors which amuses me more than upsets me (I guess all grammatical errors are in that region really), so if I hit you it will be for some other reason.Edwin Mead wrote:I love being criticized here. In real life, I'm forever criticizing others for their bad English, so it's nice to see a forum where people can be castrated for their grammatical errors. I learn from my mistakes and then pass this on to others. So you're welcome to hit me, Charlie.
Especially below the beltEdwin Mead wrote:... people can be castrated for their grammatical errors. I learn from my mistakes and then pass this on to others. So you're welcome to hit me, Charlie.
I don't think I'm the only one that thinks you're a bit bipolar in terms of "this is an error" and "loads of people say this now so tough shit - get used to it".Charlie Reams wrote:"Hence why" is one of those errors which amuses me more than upsets me (I guess all grammatical errors are in that region really), so if I hit you it will be for some other reason.Edwin Mead wrote:I love being criticized here. In real life, I'm forever criticizing others for their bad English, so it's nice to see a forum where people can be castrated for their grammatical errors. I learn from my mistakes and then pass this on to others. So you're welcome to hit me, Charlie.
I'm sure I'm not consistent on this, but the approach I try to follow is this:-Gavin Chipper wrote: I don't think I'm the only one that thinks you're a bit bipolar in terms of "this is an error" and "loads of people say this now so tough shit - get used to it".