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Subject:Re: English a Mongrel From:Bill Darnall <billd -at- DARCOMINC -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 25 Sep 1996 06:46:25 -0700
At 10:37 PM 9/24/96 -0700, Dan Wise <dewise -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com> wrote:
>I haven't checked my Roget, but I think "mongrel" is not a synonym for
>"polyglot." And English *is* polyglot.
Perhaps. But what about American English?
I had what I thought was a "cute" reply in the form of "polygrel." Then,
I looked in my dictionary and was reminded that the "mong" in "mong-rel"
means mixture. The "poly" in "poly-glot" means many. English, and especially
American English, is far from "pure." If *our* language were composed of
pure elements, it would be a "polyglot" language. If it were composed of
impure elements, it would be a "mongrel" language.
I don't particularly care for the term "polymongglot." However, I believe
it is more descriptive of American English than either polyglot or mongrel.
