December 25, 2007

• Merry X-mas everyone

  

  It's a good thing that we never stop and think about just
  how crazy language is. Think about how one of our future tenses is just
  whacking "will" between the subject and the verb ("I will poop"
  &c.) In other, stand-alone instances, will refers to your intention
  ("My will be done", "We read his will", &c.). So our future tense
  evolved out of basically making promises? We're not saying "The future
  and my idea are identical," we're saying "The future is shaped by my
  desire." That's crazy! Or arrogant? Or... sexually attractive? They say
  girls like confidence. Did English evolve to impress girls?

  • 2:58 pm
  • 1 Comment