English became what it did from its overwhelming receptivity to input from the outside, especially in the Age of Empire and the Age of Industry. Now in the Digital Age, it's doing it again — following the natural ebb and flow of the tides of change. For those who would pull up the moat, who would turn English into a museum, who would laminate the dictionaries so that nothing new can be added or amended, a la the French Academy, I say be careful what you wish for.
—Ruth Wajnryb, Australian linguist, The Sydney Morning Herald, December 3, 2005

Posted on December 7, 2005 at 6:14 AM

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