Words of Wisdom about a Whore

That headline may get me some clicks.

london city1 300x225 Secret City: Uncovering Londons hidden history

A facebook friend recently shared these words of wisdom about our language, and I can't do better today than to quote them:

The English language is like London: proudly barbaric yet deeply civilised, too, common yet royal, vulgar yet processional, sacred yet profane. Each sentence we produce, whether we know it or not, is a mongrel mouthful of Chaucerian, Shakespearean, Miltonic, Johnsonian, Dickensian and American. Military, naval, legal, corporate, criminal, jazz, rap and ghetto discourses are mingled at every turn. The French language, like Paris, has attempted, through its Academy, to retain its purity, to fight the advancing tides of Franglais and international prefabrication. English, by comparison, is a shameless whore.

The words are those of Stephen Fry, in THE ODE LESS TRAVELLED (2005).

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