james_nicoll ([info]james_nicoll) wrote,
@ 2009-07-09 09:27:00
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This looks vaguely familiar, somehow
As a comment on our long-running examinations of English language variations, Richard Murnane offers a much-quoted insight from one James Nicholl, who wrote: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

And while my name isn't spelled Nicholl, that's a lot closer to how it is spelled than Booker T. Washington or James T. Kirk.

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[info]kgbooklog
2009-07-09 01:49 pm UTC (link)
Now I'm trying to imagine Kirk as a linguist...

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[info]galbinus_caeli
2009-07-09 02:04 pm UTC (link)
Perhaps a cunning one.

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[info]lovecraftienne
2009-07-09 02:07 pm UTC (link)
Nah, that's only linguists like me.

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[info]jaylake
2009-07-09 02:52 pm UTC (link)
Down we go...

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[info]tatterdemalion
2009-07-09 02:16 pm UTC (link)
Your quote gives me a great deal of pleasure, it's my favourite linguistics quote and a great favourite amongst fellow proofreaders.

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[info]metahacker
2009-07-09 02:20 pm UTC (link)
Strangely, folks always spell "James" right.

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[info]jhetley
2009-07-09 04:37 pm UTC (link)
You think so?

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[info]pixel39
2009-07-09 03:23 pm UTC (link)
Clearly you need to become James T. Nicoll. It's the T that does it.

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[info]llennhoff
2009-07-09 03:29 pm UTC (link)
Are you proposing to reboot the Nicoll franchise?

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[info]krin_o_o_
2009-07-09 03:31 pm UTC (link)
Only if we can get Nimoy to guest star!

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[info]agent_mimi
2009-07-09 07:36 pm UTC (link)
Did someone really say Kirk was the source of your "cribhouse whore" quote? The mind, it reels.

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[info]james_nicoll
2009-07-09 07:39 pm UTC (link)
Diane Duane used it under the impression it was trad. She was pretty nice about the hissy fit I then threw while contemplating hordes of earnest Star Trek fans insisting that I was quoting Kirk (which doesn't seem to actually happened).

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[info]james_nicoll
2009-07-09 07:42 pm UTC (link)
And I see someone on Daily Kos thought it was original to her:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/25/133928/745/717/688827

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[info]martianmooncrab
2009-07-09 07:47 pm UTC (link)
it could have been James Nicole...

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[info]pixel39
2009-07-09 07:48 pm UTC (link)
True. This time they at least got all the correct letters in the right order, even if they did add an extra.

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[info]martianmooncrab
2009-07-09 07:59 pm UTC (link)
maybe we should run a contest on how to spell James' name the most creatively, after all, it is the flexible part of English to do that.

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[info]martinl_00
2009-07-09 08:27 pm UTC (link)
If we're gonna do Star Trek, why not misattribute it to Nichelle Nichols?

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[info]pauldrye
2009-07-09 09:08 pm UTC (link)
Hey! *I* was here to say that!

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[info]t_guy
2009-07-09 10:31 pm UTC (link)
Okay, I see my 'James Nichelle Nicolls' has a queue to join...

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[info]beamjockey
2009-07-10 01:01 am UTC (link)
By the way, I posted a sighting on my own LJ.

Some other finds:

Who said, "English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary"?
(They don't actually give the answer, as far as I can see.)

English does not borrow from other languages...it follows them down dark alleys, beats the crap out of them and searches their pockets for loose grammar.

English: A language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.

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[info]boywhocantsayno
2009-07-14 04:16 am UTC (link)
For some reason I'm reminded of the occasional confusion that came up when we signed both David Nykl (the Stargate: Atlantis actor) and David Nickle (the horror author) as guests at this year's Polaris.

There were jokes that we needed to sign Nichelle Nichols next (or find someone with the surname Dime). Perhaps this would have been a good year to invite you as a Fan GoH (though we don't really do Fan GoHs).

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