yes, it's that time again: mindy's pet peeve corner!

[Patrick McCann]

> basque is a freaking weird language. they say that it's closer to japanese
> than any european/middle eastern/african languages.

It's mental. Off its head.
I've read that linguists are basically stumped as to where it came from. They can find no link with any other language which,of course, is incredible.

In that part of the world ( south-west France and north-west Spain) , the obvious parent would be Latin. But nope, nothing.

I've also recently heard/read that it was only first put into written form during the 20th.century. I don't know if that's true.

I do know that General Franco banned it ( along with Catalan and all other Spanish regional languages), but since the return of democracy in 1975/76 it, like the others, has enjoyed a resurgence.

I also vaguely remember learning recently that gypsy Romany languages are being investigated to see if there are any links there.

Anyway, I'm sure you're all now fascinated, so if I hear of any further developments, you'll all be among the first to know.

 

[jenny]

> basque is a freaking weird language. they say that it's closer to japanese
> than any european/middle eastern/african languages.

My grandfather is of basque decent.

 

[Mindy]

> My grandfather is of basque decent.

that's neat. i never met anyone of basque descent before.

 

[Notastitchtowear]

> i think i've already discussed my annoyance with my maternal grandparents
> for ignoring the fact that i'm neither pro-bush or pro-war and continuing
> to send me obnoxious propaganda filled emails. anyway, lately they've been
> sending me anti-french diatribes. okay, a few of them are funny, but they
> seem to forget a tiny little fact. oh, like, that my surname is french and
> that french is one of my two majors and that i love france and always
> have. they really have no respect for me whatsoever.

> also, i have a very good rebuttal for all the twats who say that if it
> weren't for us, the frenchies would be speaking german right now.

> if it weren't for the french, we'd all be speaking german right now (or
> some variation thereof!). old english was an amalgam of germanic languages
> with a bit of welsh and celtic. after the norman invasion, french and the
> various local tongues coalesced to become middle english, which is still
> understandable to modern readers (try reading chaucer in the original
> middle english -- it's surprisingly easy). something like 40% of english
> words are derived from french or were of latin origin, but were introduced
> by the french. so we should all give them a big "merci" for
> helping to create the best damn language ever (oh and for helping us win a
> little thing called the american revolution).

> i hate to be pedantic, but it's the goddamn truth.

Here's my pet peeve, sort of on this same note. Relatives who send you stupid 'precious' little jokes or stories involving cute children saying silly things aboout god or jesus. JESUS!!!

 

[Mindy]

> Here's my pet peeve, sort of on this same note. Relatives who send you
> stupid 'precious' little jokes or stories involving cute children saying
> silly things aboout god or jesus. JESUS!!!

oh, dear god, that's horrible. my grandparents LOVE doing that.