• Lvxferre
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    2 months ago

    I’m sure a linguist could dive way more into depth, but “not English words” is the equivalent of “not a true Scotsman”.

    Pretty much. Once speakers start using the word, and expecting others to understand it, it’s already part of the lexicon of that language. Specially if you see signs of phonetic adaptation, like /ø/ becoming /u:/ in a language with no /ø/ (see: “lieu”) - and yet it’s exactly why people complain about those words.

    And this sort of complain isn’t even new. Nor the backslash agianst it, as Catullus 84 shows for Latin and Greek.