Anyone Prefer Scripture over Poetry? (Page 2)

Metaverseguy: Yes, I've heard that Don Quixote is like Shakespeare. I actually learned Spanish to fluency, but mainly practice by watching 30 minutes of the local news in Spanish once per week or so. I have a few very great works in Spanish yet haven't really attempted them.

You know English is a very odd language. I suppose it's very rare for people to speak one language for so long, yet this language has changed entirely not once, but twice. Middle English was used up until the 1500s, and while it is remotely legible Old English is incoherent for most modern day English speakers. Compare this to Chinese. If you understand Traditional Chinese, still used in some parts of China, then you can read scripts 2,000 years old. Simple Chinese, as they call it, is just a few of the most common characters changed and abbreviated to make it easier to adapt to the modern world. Yet Simple Chinese was only in circulation recently - the 1950's or so. Probably one of the oldest languages on the planet still in use, other than maybe Hebrew but there are so few speakers it doesn't compare.

Zanjan: Written Chinese doesn't have an alphabet so I think it can be read regardless of dialect.

Whereas, middle English writers were notoriously bad spellers; they wrote like they spoke - phonetically, giving rise to much amusement. Things improved after the 1500s, with the addition of a new letter to the alphabet and observation of grammatical rules; the Queen's English is the standard. Then along came the evil empire of acronyms - a code for lazy electronic writers, which requires its own dictionary.

I used to be a fan of doggerel but 'rap' slaughtered it. Thank God, Haiku still lives.

ghostgeek: What's wrong with writing like you speak?

Zanjan: As my Austrian friend once told me, that would be too much info. Her dialect and accent reveal her level of formal education, what town and class she's from, who her parents are, and approx income bracket. As you demonstrated, it would also indicate your degree of sobriety.

Aside from it not being possible to use a pseudonym, there's the chance that those who are further removed might misunderstand you.

This is why there are two forms of English - conversational and literary. The latter eliminates that 'Trump' effect - that is, no one will know how you actually feel or pre-judge what you're about to say.

ghostgeek: Sorry, I saw my spelling mistake before I read your post. Interesting that you are correct. I was a little inebriated. Some of the cider you can get in the UK has quite some potency.

Zanjan: I understand how you'd need some medicinal application to kill the pain.

ghostgeek: Sounds like you could do with a drop of medicine yourself, Zanjan.

ghostgeek:

Zanjan: Well, mine is prescription. If I increase the dose, I die. We all need a little extra help as we age. You reminded me that, in Canada, Newfies are allowed to write as they speak, else nobody would believe them..and it's cute.

ghostgeek: That we do, begorrah.

Metaverseguy: I take medication I have to inject by these disposable pens for my autoimmune disease, similar to how some people take diabetes medication. My grandfather though, once thought I was addicted to heroin. Not sure if he was confused to how medication worked or just assumed I'm a junkie because I played a lot of videogames as a child.