There is no way BBC just did this...

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[–]Tom_BombadilBombadildo 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

English is a simplified language. It is a mideival patios.

The Simplification of English - Stage 2, The Viking Settlers

The article doesn't list any specifics, however one basic example is the english language has no genitave cases, and virtually all other European languages do.
English nouns for objects are genderless.

This is only one small example of many linguistic simplifications existing within modern English.

Reinessance scholars were ashamed of this reality and latinized the language. The word people was previously peple, etc.

Prior to WW2 French was the language of sophisticated westerners.

Unfortunately, the public education system and propaganda system has simplified the historical perspective of many Americans.

This is the probable explanation behind this post receiving so many upvotes.

[–]wuzizname 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

As a English speaker who learned French serious fuck gendered nouns. You need at least double prepositions and pronouns to make it work. I don’t know if German is the same but the Latin languages are a mess with them.

[–]Tom_BombadilBombadildo 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I agree it's a hassle to learn the additional syntax structure of other languages. The message can be reasonably conveyed without the additional complexity.

However, some of the play-on meanings of phrases is lost when a language is stripped down to the basics. This can affect poetry, or comedy, etc.

My point is it's easy to make fun of other patois if you don't understand the nature of language.

English is the Ebonics of European languages.

No doubt the audience reading the paper in question will be fluent in at least two (probably +3) languages.

The meme is low brow comedy.

[–]C3P0 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

genitive - relating to or denoting a case of nouns and pronouns (and words in grammatical agreement with them) indicating possession or close association.

English uses apostrophes for possession. For example, "my sister's" or "an elephant's ear."

You probably mean that English nouns have no gender, and many grammarians would agree. However, it is not exactly true. Consider the following gendered nouns and special cases in english:

  • buck, deer
  • gander, geese
  • rooster, hen
  • hotrods are sometimes referred to as "she"
  • beautiful is rarely used to describe masculine things
  • handsome is rarely used to describe feminine things

...and probably a thousand other examples.

[–]Tom_BombadilBombadildo 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

The details you mentioned are Interesting, but the miss the main point.

genitive - relating to or denoting a case of nouns and pronouns (and words in grammatical agreement with them) indicating possession or close association.

There are many applications of a genitive case. It's a broad term and IIRC English has only 3.

English is a Germanic language, so it's a useful as a sister reference language.

Here's a better example of what is missing from our patios.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genitive_case.
(Scroll down to the German portion)

Articles

The genitive singular definite article for masculine and neuter nouns is des, while the feminine and plural definite article is der. The indefinite articles are eines for masculine and neuter nouns, and einer for feminine and plural nouns (although the bare form cannot be used in the plural, it manifests in keiner, meiner, etc.).

Nouns

Singular masculine and neuter nouns of the strong declension in the genitive case are marked with -(e)s. Generally, one-syllable nouns favour the -es ending, and it is obligatory with nouns ending with a sibilant such as s or z. >Otherwise, a simple -s ending is usual.

Feminine and plural nouns remain uninflected:

  • des Beitrags (of the contribution) – masculine
  • der Blume (of the flower) – feminine
  • des Landes (of the country) – neuter
  • der Bäume (of the trees) – plural

Singular masculine nouns (and one neuter noun) of the weak declension are marked with an -(e)n (or rarely -(e)ns) ending in the genitive case:

  • des Raben (of the raven) – masculine
  • des Herzens (of the heart) – neuter

The list goes on and on for adjectives, etc.

The article also has a section for English.

Old English had a genitive case, which has left its mark in modern English in the form of the possessive ending 's (now sometimes referred to as the "Saxon genitive"), as well as possessive pronoun forms such as his, theirs, etc., and in certain words derived from adverbial genitives such as once and afterwards.