The French can neither read nor calculate

Cito di Pense · **#41** by **Cito di Pense** » Oct 10, 2013 8:19 am

Regina wrote:
[Reveal] NOT SAFE FOR WORK / EXPLICIT CONTENT
archibald wrote:
Regina wrote:
Every day.

Thank goodness your here to keep me right.

No need to thank me. It's a vocation.

archibald · **#42** by **archibald** » Oct 10, 2013 8:45 am

Regina wrote:
[Reveal] NOT SAFE FOR WORK / EXPLICIT CONTENT

This got me all anticipatory, only to be disappointed. Story of my life.

Regina · **#43** by **Regina** » Oct 10, 2013 8:54 am

archibald wrote:
Regina wrote:
[Reveal] NOT SAFE FOR WORK / EXPLICIT CONTENT

This got me all anticipatory, only to be disappointed. Story of my life.

I'm sorry. The spoiler just appeared. I cannot edit it out. :dunno:

archibald · **#44** by **archibald** » Oct 10, 2013 8:56 am

Regina wrote:
archibald wrote:
Regina wrote:
[Reveal] NOT SAFE FOR WORK / EXPLICIT CONTENT

This got me all anticipatory, only to be disappointed. Story of my life.

I'm sorry. The spoiler just appeared. I cannot edit it out.

Drat. And I thought you were flirting.

Regina · **#45** by **Regina** » Oct 10, 2013 10:09 am

I don't flirt. :coffee:

THWOTH · **#46** by **THWOTH** » Oct 10, 2013 10:21 am

Briton wrote: I remember reading somewhere that the average English speaker has a much wider vocabulary than the speakers of most other languages...does anyone know if there is any truth in that?

Indubitably.

:coffee:

Regina · **#47** by **Regina** » Oct 10, 2013 10:45 am

THWOTH wrote:
Briton wrote: I remember reading somewhere that the average English speaker has a much wider vocabulary than the speakers of most other languages...does anyone know if there is any truth in that?

Indubitably.

Hm. Rumour has it that the English language has more words than, let's say, French or German. Which does not say anything about the average speaker.

mindhack · **#48** by **mindhack** » Oct 10, 2013 11:26 am

Regina wrote:
THWOTH wrote:
Briton wrote: I remember reading somewhere that the average English speaker has a much wider vocabulary than the speakers of most other languages...does anyone know if there is any truth in that?

Indubitably.

Hm. Rumour has it that the English language has more words than, let's say, French or German. Which does not say anything about the average speaker.

Hmm, if every number is considered to have a unique word then all languages would have a potentially infinite number of words.

Briton · **#49** by **Briton** » Oct 10, 2013 12:15 pm

Regina wrote:
THWOTH wrote:
Briton wrote: I remember reading somewhere that the average English speaker has a much wider vocabulary than the speakers of most other languages...does anyone know if there is any truth in that?

Indubitably.

Hm. Rumour has it that the English language has more words than, let's say, French or German. Which does not say anything about the average speaker.

No, interesting though. I guess that's because it's such a mish mash of other tongues.

Scot Dutchy · **#50** by **Scot Dutchy** » Oct 11, 2013 8:09 am

Briton wrote:
Regina wrote:
THWOTH wrote:
Briton wrote: I remember reading somewhere that the average English speaker has a much wider vocabulary than the speakers of most other languages...does anyone know if there is any truth in that?

Indubitably.

Hm. Rumour has it that the English language has more words than, let's say, French or German. Which does not say anything about the average speaker.

No, interesting though. I guess that's because it's such a mish mash of other tongues.

No it does not. It is a rumour spread around by English speakers.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/06/counting_words

Fallible · **#51** by **Fallible** » Oct 11, 2013 8:15 am

Your link doesn't actually say it doesn't.

If I had to give a short answer to the question "does English have the biggest vocabulary?," I'd say "Who cares?"

Scot Dutchy · **#52** by **Scot Dutchy** » Oct 11, 2013 8:27 am

Fallible wrote:Your link doesn't actually say it doesn't.

If I had to give a short answer to the question "does English have the biggest vocabulary?," I'd say "Who cares?"

Does not say it does either. It is an explanation of how it is almost impossible to determine numbers.

Dutch like German has root words which are added to and combined to form new words. How do you count these?

Why is it so important for some English speakers to be able to say English has the most words? Who cares exactly.

Fallible · **#53** by **Fallible** » Oct 11, 2013 8:34 am

''Does not say it does'' and ''who cares?'' does not equal ''it does not'', which is what you said. Personally I don't care, but I do like to correct ''errors''.

Scot Dutchy · **#54** by **Scot Dutchy** » Oct 11, 2013 8:37 am

Fallible wrote:''Does not say it does'' and ''who cares?'' does not equal ''it does not'', which is what you said. Personally I don't care, but I do like to correct ''errors''.

You must love picking nits out of hair. :lol:

Fallible · **#55** by **Fallible** » Oct 11, 2013 8:43 am

No, as I said, I don't care what language has the most words but I do like correcting ''errors''. The link does not say that English does not have the most words.

Just to mark where it happened - in response to a completely on-topic, non-inflammatory comment. Post #54, Scot changes direction and makes a comment on me, not the subject under discussion. If your next comment is personal it's getting ignored.

Scot Dutchy · **#56** by **Scot Dutchy** » Oct 11, 2013 8:55 am

I am not getting bogged down in this bog of nothingness.

It is the second thread you have done this.

Fallible · **#57** by **Fallible** » Oct 11, 2013 9:00 am

No, you have done it, as I've just shown. Post #54 your changed tack and commented on me, not the topic. I say this not for you, because it will have no effect. You'll get no further response from me. I'll just draw attention to anything in a similar vein in the usual fashion.

archibald · **#58** by **archibald** » Oct 11, 2013 10:23 am

I once read somewhere, I don't know if it's true, that in Flemish, there are 87 different words for 'nit'.

surreptitious57 · **#59** by **surreptitious57** » Oct 11, 2013 10:43 am

Briton wrote:
I guess that is because it is such a mish mash of other tongues

A combination of being a mongrel a nation and one that once had a empire

English is a bastardisation of Latin and Greek and German and French and Arabic

Evolving · **#60** by **Evolving** » Oct 11, 2013 11:50 am

“Bastardisation” seems a needlessly opprobrious word. Is there anything illegitimate about being influenced by more than one language?

How about “English is a combination of Latin and Greek and German and French and Arabic”?

Arabic seems a slightly surprising choice for the end of the list. Fine if we add “et al.”.

The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Re: The French can neither read nor calculate

Who is online