What colour is everybody??

[DiMENSiON] · Eleet Joined: 06 Sep 2003 Posts: 617

If people did not butcher the english language it would never evolve, technically now we do not speak english. English has evolved over many years, even shakespears english was not proper english, he made up alot of words... This poll should have had more options i think, like:

White
Mixed Race
Black
Asian

I may have missed some out but that would have been a better set of options.

pepolez · Lurker Joined: 05 Oct 2004 Posts: 163 Location: IRC

PingBad · Guru Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1941 Location: New Zealand

pepolez · Lurker Joined: 05 Oct 2004 Posts: 163 Location: IRC

i swear if i could morph into something else as a disguise, id kill bill gates and sell his body parts for dog food and then bomb the ms hq.

sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but thats how i feel Smile

angelic · Lurker Joined: 01 Aug 2003 Posts: 148

I'm a bit pink myself Smile

Re: language. Here's a great example of the evolution of languages:

Languages do evolve, yes, but the purpose of things like schools is to limit that evolution. If a language evolves too quickly, it fractures into dialects that eventually become mutually incomprehensible. Suddenly what were once dialects become completely separate languages sharing only their immediate ancestor. Think French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese here.

And language serves a far more important purpose than to merely allow us to communicate with each other. Language allows us to communicate with our past. (Okay, it's strictly a one- way communication, but communication nonetheless.) I can go back and read things that were written five hundred years ago because the modern English language hasn't changed too much in that time. But going back much further than that, things get difficult.

Here's a version of the Lord's Prayer published in 1611.

Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. Giue us this day our daily bread. And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters. And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.

The most notable difference is the use of the letter "u" where we would use "v." Other than that, this passage is totally legible. It's slightly under 400 years old.

Here's the same prayer in Middle English, dated around 1384. (Apologies to anybody whose computer doesn't display the thorn, the eth, or the ae dipthong correctly. If somebody wants to go through there and add HTML entities, be my guest.)

Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name; þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun in heuene. yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred. And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us.
And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.

This version is pretty radically different in spelling some word choice, but it's fundamentally recognizable. But look at the same prayer dated circa 1000.

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

Pretty much incomprehensible.

I would say that your typical "1337-speak" version of the Lord's Prayer would resemble the 600-year-old version more than the other two: it would be fundamentally comprehensible, but only after certain letter substitutions are made by the reader. A more exotic rendering using constructions like "sux0r" (although I know "sucks" doesn't appear in the Lord's Prayer; bear with me) would quickly start to resemble the 1000-year-old version.

So there's a good argument to be made that the kind of writing we're talking about here is surprisingly close to becoming another language entirely.

0ur F47h3r, wH0 4r7 n h34V3n, h4110w3d b3 7HY n4m3, 7hy k1ngd0m c0m3, 7hy wI11 b d0n3, 0N 34r7h 4s i7 iS iN h34v3n. G1v3 u5 th15 d4y 0ur d4i1y br34d, & f0rg1v3 u5 0ur tr35p45535, 4s w3 f0rg1v3 7h05e wh0 tr35p455 4g41n5t u5.

Our Father, who 0wnz heaven, j00 r0ck! May all 0ur base someday be belong to you! May j00 0wn earth just like j00 0wn heaven. Give us this day our warez, mp3z, and pr0n through a phat pipe. And cut us some slack when we act like n00b lamerz, just as we teach n00bz when they act lame on us. Please don't give us root access on some poor d00d'z box when we're too pissed off to think about what's right and wrong, and if you could keep the f3i off our backs, we'd appreciate it. For j00 0wn r00t on all our b0x3n 4ever and ever, 4m3n.

0wr F4th3R, wh0 0wnz h34\/3n, j00 r0x0rs! M4y 4|| 0wr b4s3 s0m3d4y Bl0ng t0 j00! M4y j00 0wn 34rth juss |1|3 j00 0wn h34\/3n. G1v3 us th1s d4y 0wr w4r3z, mp3z, 'n pr0n thr0ugh a ph4t |. 4nd cut us s0m3 sl4ck wh3n w3 4ct lik3 n00b l4m3rz, juss 4s w3 g1v3 n00bz 4 l34rn1n wh3n th3y l4m3 2 us. Pl34s3 d0n't l3t us 0wn s0m3 p00r d00d'z b0x3n wh3n w3'r3 t00 p1ss3d t0 th1nk 4b0ut wh4t's r1ght 4nd wr0ng, 4nd 1f j00 c0uld k33p th3 f3i 0ff 0wr b4ckz, w3'd 'pr3c14t3 1t. F0r j00 0wn 4ll 0wr b0x3n 43v3r 4nd 3v3r, 4m3n!

Haha! That just made my day. Now I say we translate the whole thing, print it, bind it, and leave it in nightstands at low-end hotels! 1337 Gideons

source: /.

pepolez · Lurker Joined: 05 Oct 2004 Posts: 163 Location: IRC

haha. it could be a good thing, then we have an worldwide irc addict language Razz

Stefano · Eleet Joined: 03 Apr 2005 Posts: 523 Location: Beirut

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