Studies in Words

"Verbicide, the murder of a word, happens in many ways." C. S. Lewis,
_Studies in Words_.
I think CSL would have to at least chuckle at this:
[contributed by Nate Thompson in alt.quotations]

In honor of the Academie Francaise:

The firststuffs have their being as motes called unclefts. These are
mighty small: one seedweight of waterstuff holds a tale of them like
unto two followed by twenty-two naughts. Most unclefts link together
to make what are called bulkbits. Thus, the waterstuff bulkbit
bestands of two waterstuff unclefts, the sourstuff bulkbit of two
sourstuff unclefts, and so on. (Some kinds, such as sunstuff, keep
alone; others, such as iron, cling together in chills when in the fast
standing; and there are yet more yokeways.) When unlike unclefts link
in a bulkbit, they make bindings. Thus, water is a binding of two
waterstuff unclefts with one sourstuff uncleft, while a bulkbit of one
of the forestuffs making up flesh may have a thousand or more inclefts
of these two firststuffs together with coalstuff and chokestuff.

--Poul Anderson
"Uncleftish Beholding"
Analog Science Fact / Science Fiction (12/1989)
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=raredata-ya02408000R1006982314440...%40news

France bans term 'email'
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=266895

I am of this opinion that our own tung shold be written cleane and
pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges, wherin if
we take not heed by tijm, ever borowing and never payeng, she shall be
fain to keep her house as bankrupt. For then doth our tung naturallie
and praisablie utter her meaning, when she bouroweth no
counterfeitness of other tunges to attire her self withall, but useth
plainlie her own, with such shift, as nature, craft, experiens and
folowing of other excellent doth lead her unto, and if she want at ani
tijm (as being unperfight she must) yet let her borow with suche
bashfulnes, that it mai appeer, that if either the mould of our own
tung could serve us to fascion a woord of our own, or if the old
denisoned wordes could content and ease this neede, we wold not boldly
venture of unknowen wordes.
--Sir John Cheke
letter to Sir Thomas Hoby (1561)

All the best,
Ann
"I walk in wonders beyond myself." --C. S. Lewis