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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  4024 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: English Has a New Preposition, Because Internet

Shakespeare might be competition, but a list of words he invented doesn't help anything, because some of them were never seen again, some took a hundred years to become mainstream, etc.

Putting aside the debate as to whether a phrase Shakespeare came up with should even be mentioned in the same conversation as "because internet."





sounds_sound  ·  4023 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Respectfully, I don't see much difference. His change of the word upstairs for example is slight, but if you were use to hearing it only one way for all of your life, and then heard it as an adjective, it might seem jarring at first. These are not parallel examples, I know.

I think making because a preposition is a fairly seamless move. It reminds me of the French word chez (as I understand it). I could say "at Fatburger" : "chez Fatburger", but I could also say "at the doctor's" : also just "chez médecin". It cuts off the le because it's completely unnecessary. Someone can correct me if I got that wrong, but perhaps the intent is still there.

user-inactivated  ·  4023 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's seamless, yeah -- since it's not a huge deal. The problem is that a lot of internet speak is horrible and you can never tell quite what's gonna catch on. Good example there with chez though.

I was thinking about this earlier and thought of a truly awful one but I seem to have forgotten it.

GoldStarBrother  ·  4024 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What's better about the old version of English, without the bastardizations?