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Re-enchant the mundane

Elixir said:
Why would anyone here today think of Olde English as being “enchanting”?
Because people who spake it believed in enchantments and such nonsense?
Then call it what it is - stupidifying.
Click to expand...

The language we are using is (loosely based on) Early Modern English. It's the language of Shakespeare, Newton, Wren, Cromwell, Hobbes, Locke and Bacon.

Olde English is not intelligible to modern English speakers at all, and hasn't been widely spoken since the tenth century. The closest modern language spoken today is Icelandic, which is remarkably similar to Olde English in many respects.

Middle English (spoken from the 11th to the 15th centuries) sounded like a cross between modern English, modern Flemish, and modern German. Again, it was not really similar enough to modern English for most of today's English speakers to understand it.

By far the most common Early Modern English texts still in use today are the King James 'Authorised Version' of the Bible, and the works of Shakespeare. But don't let that fool you into thinking that it was the language only of religion and/or entertainment. The great philosophers and scientists who kicked off modern thinking in England, founded the Royal Society, and dragged Western Europe kicking and screaming out of Medieval superstition wrote and spoke in Early Modern English (and Latin, and EM French, and EM German - few of them were monoglot English speakers).

The real enchantment of Early Modern English is the laxity of the rules. Prescriptivism is a C19th innovation, and before that time, spelling and even grammar were far more flexible. The enchantment comes, in large part, from recovering this lost freedom; And from embracing the slower pace of the pre-Industrial age, when a single thought could be conveyed using a few dozen thoughtfully chosen polysyllabic words, secure in the expectation that the audience wouldn't get bored and wander off.

Early Modern English is the five day test match version of English, and stands in contrast with the hurried and hasty twenty-overs-per-innings language we now speak.
 
bilby said:
Elixir said:
Why would anyone here today think of Olde English as being “enchanting”?
Because people who spake it believed in enchantments and such nonsense?
Then call it what it is - stupidifying.
Click to expand...

The language we are using is (loosely based on) Early Modern English. It's the language of Shakespeare, Newton, Wren, Cromwell, Hobbes, Locke and Bacon.

Olde English is not intelligible to modern English speakers at all, and hasn't been widely spoken since the tenth century. The closest modern language spoken today is Icelandic, which is remarkably similar to Olde English in many respects.

Middle English (spoken from the 11th to the 15th centuries) sounded like a cross between modern English, modern Flemish, and modern German. Again, it was not really similar enough to modern English for most of today's English speakers to understand it.

By far the most common Early Modern English texts still in use today are the King James 'Authorised Version' of the Bible, and the works of Shakespeare. But don't let that fool you into thinking that it was the language only of religion and/or entertainment. The great philosophers and scientists who kicked off modern thinking in England, founded the Royal Society, and dragged Western Europe kicking and screaming out of Medieval superstition wrote and spoke in Early Modern English (and Latin, and EM French, and EM German - few of them were monoglot English speakers).

The real enchantment of Early Modern English is the laxity of the rules. Prescriptivism is a C19th innovation, and before that time, spelling and even grammar were far more flexible. The enchantment comes, in large part, from recovering this lost freedom; And from embracing the slower pace of the pre-Industrial age, when a single thought could be conveyed using a few dozen thoughtfully chosen polysyllabic words, secure in the expectation that the audience wouldn't get bored and wander off.

Early Modern English is the five day test match version of English, and stands in contrast with the hurried and hasty twenty-overs-per-innings language we now speak.
Click to expand...

Excellent post.
Considering that it’s a serious response to a tongue-in-cheek quip, it’s exceptional!
In fact it makes me think of all the Patrick OBrien novels I read, set right at the transition to prescriptivism. It took several volumes before I could read them unhaltingly, but well worth the effort.
 
Thanks for confirming to me that A Clockwork Orange needs more volumes.
 
bilby said:
Elixir said:
Why would anyone here today think of Olde English as being “enchanting”?
Because people who spake it believed in enchantments and such nonsense?
Then call it what it is - stupidifying.
Click to expand...

The language we are using is (loosely based on) Early Modern English. It's the language of Shakespeare, Newton, Wren, Cromwell, Hobbes, Locke and Bacon.

Olde English is not intelligible to modern English speakers at all, and hasn't been widely spoken since the tenth century. The closest modern language spoken today is Icelandic, which is remarkably similar to Olde English in many respects.

Middle English (spoken from the 11th to the 15th centuries) sounded like a cross between modern English, modern Flemish, and modern German. Again, it was not really similar enough to modern English for most of today's English speakers to understand it.

By far the most common Early Modern English texts still in use today are the King James 'Authorised Version' of the Bible, and the works of Shakespeare. But don't let that fool you into thinking that it was the language only of religion and/or entertainment. The great philosophers and scientists who kicked off modern thinking in England, founded the Royal Society, and dragged Western Europe kicking and screaming out of Medieval superstition wrote and spoke in Early Modern English (and Latin, and EM French, and EM German - few of them were monoglot English speakers).

The real enchantment of Early Modern English is the laxity of the rules. Prescriptivism is a C19th innovation, and before that time, spelling and even grammar were far more flexible. The enchantment comes, in large part, from recovering this lost freedom; And from embracing the slower pace of the pre-Industrial age, when a single thought could be conveyed using a few dozen thoughtfully chosen polysyllabic words, secure in the expectation that the audience wouldn't get bored and wander off.

Early Modern English is the five day test match version of English, and stands in contrast with the hurried and hasty twenty-overs-per-innings language we now speak.
Click to expand...

You're really good at pooping on a party.
 
I do not suffer from genetically-based diabetes. Mine bloodline bears a curse.

It's not a booster shot. The aged scourge rises again, we must prepare for a siege.

My orthopedic shoes are at the shop, awaiting a final fitting. The rubber-monger has completed my sabatons, save a final adjustment to my unique requirements.

A coworker lost a toe to flesh-eating bacteria. Yonder villager was maimed by... actually, 'flesh-eating bacteria' sounds pretty eldritch already.
 
In a shocking rejection of this theme, my wife won't let me get an emotional support animal. I'm not sure why, but there are a few possibilities.
1) I intended to name it 'Tituba'
2) After several guided tours in Salem, i intended to pronounce it differently every time (ty-tuba, tit-yuba, tich-oo-buh, etc.)
3) I was going to insist it was my familiar, making HR and Security deal with it as a religious freedom, in addition to clinical support
4) she saw the same ad i did for free mice with the purchase of any snake, and was saying 'No' before i fully mapped out the possible pronunciations
 
My back isn't flaring up. I'm having one of my... episodes.

My knees aren't bothering me this week. "Alms for a cripple?"

My dermatologist isn't especially interested in the mole on my chin. The seer has found the birthmark of the missing heir.
 
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