• aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    When I was a child, I spoke like a child. Now I am a man and I speak like the King of England!

    English is three different languages in a trench coat. It’s all borrowed to some degree.

    • AllNewTypeFace
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      7 hours ago

      Most linguists formally classify English as Germanic (West Germanic, alongside Frisian, Dutch and German, though one Norwegian linguist made a case for it being North Germanic), though some people refer to it as a Romance-Germanic creole. It is quantifiably true that, if you want to read Old English, knowing Icelandic will be more helpful than knowing modern English.

    • Anti-Face Weapon@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Three languages?

      1. Anglo German (aka old English)
      2. French
      3. Norwegian/Danish?

      Not sure what the third one is. You could make an honest argument for a number of languages to be number 3.

      • Coriza@lemmy.world
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        16 minutes ago

        I don’t think it is literal 3, just a play on 3 X in a trench coach. I think I always see the meme as 3 of something but I am not sure.