An interesting bit of trivia at:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/151416

They make it sound like there was no writing in English before 600. In fact the runic alphabet had been in use for some time before that.

It was quite interesting, though. Unfortunately there was an ad at the top of explanation, which I couldn't make disappear, and it covered up a lot of the writing. That Mental Floss is supposed to be a good Blog.

Interesting that, although it appears to be a British site, it uses the word "zucchini" - which we usually don't in the UK. We call the things "courgettes".

What makes it appear to be a British site, Richard? The magazine seems to be distributed in America only - at least, when I went to the subscribe page, it only allowed the insertion of an American address. There is also a store in Cleveland, Ohio. The only thing that makes it appear British is the (stolen via Google Images I'd guess) picture of the Waitrose receipt.

It was the receipt that made me think it was a UK site. Why on earth would a US site use a UK image when there are millions of US alternatives to use?

There were few other clues part from the "ize" termination - often considered to be an Americanism - but which is actually the original British way (and is still favoured by the OED).

I didn't bother to try to register.

quote:

Why on earth would a US site use a UK image when there are millions of US alternatives to use?

As I mentioned it looks like they stole the picture using Google Images or similar to find it. If you hover over that image the "ALT" text refers to a visit to Safeway by Will and Kate. Apart from the -ize suffix there is also the fact that the most recent story was about President Roosevelt reorganising football (sic).

I think "stole" is too strong a word to use here. They are an on-line version of a print magazine and I don't think they want to be involved in a copyright issue. Indicating this is that they have a credit line for "Getty Images", which is a for-profit stock photo distributor.

Much is in Google images now, and it's all open to the public.

Mental_floss magazine was started in 2000 by two Duke University students, William E. Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur. The Mental-floss store is in Chesterland, OH, so I assume that's where the website is launched. Mental-floss was bought by Dennis Publishing in 2011. The owner, Felix Dennis, is described by Wikipedia as a "British publisher, poet, and philanthropist."

Among his many accomplishments is the 2001 creation of the Forest of Dennis in West Midlands., which is managed by The Heart of England Forest Ltd. The Heart of England Forest Project has planted 1900 acres of native broadleaved trees. Together with 300 hundred acres of "veteran woodland," there are 2200 acres of broadleaved trees in the project. The goal is to "plant and preserve a large native broadleaf forest in the heart of England," of 10,000, 20,000, perhaps 30,00 acres.

Arika Okrent, the author of the article, is an American linguist. She has an M.A. in Linguistics from the Gallaudet University, and a joint Ph.D. in Psycholinguistics and Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Chicago. She is the author of several books, including In The Land of Invented Languages, published in 2010. On her website she says she lives in Philadelphia, makes bagels (recipe included), can touch her tongue to her nose, and is a southpaw.

If any of this interests you, you might want to check out some (or all) of the links below.

Mental floss - From Wikipedia

Felix Dennis - From Wikipedia

Forest of Dennis - From Wikipedia

The Heart of England Forest Project

Arika Okrent - From Wikipedia

Arika Okrent – website (home; click on links for bio, bagel recipe, etc.)

Arika Okrent - In the Land of Invented Languages available as hardcover or ebook, 352 pages

Arika Okrent - From Y’all To Youse, 8 English Ways to Make “You” Plural

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

A US website owned by and Englishman, then. No wonder it's confusing

In this link of Tinman's above, Arika Okrent talks about 8 English ways to make "you" plural. I've heard of 7, but not this one:

quote:

2. Yinz - This one is a hallmark of the dialect known as “Pittsburghese.” People who speak this dialect are referred to as “yinzers.”

Have others heard of "yinz?"

Have others heard of "yinz?"

I've read of it, but never heard it in the wild. I've been to Pittsburgh two or three times, but I did not spend too much time there interacting with natives.

Funny that "you guys" made it in there. It's so ubiquitous (you-biquitous?)and slangy, I never thought of it as a grammatical feature. I'm guessing it was popularized in the days of Jimmy Cagney flicks.

RE: 'yinz'. I've never even heard anyone say "you-uns" let alone its contraction. & I've known folks from Pittsburgh.

quote:

8 English ways to make "you" plural

I recall from my Army days: Platoon! and Company! Atten-hut! That's certainly "plural you's".