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I would say the vast majority of English speakers have no clue which words they use are actually English or borrowed from other languages eg. Ketchup or tycoon

I would say the vast majority of English speakers have no clue which words they use are actually English or borrowed from other languages eg. Ketchup or tycoon (both from China), or made up words that barely qualify as any language eg. "stonks". English is a horrible mishmash that seems to work. Back in the 16th and 17th century English had a debate on how to spell words, with some wanting English to remain closer and Greek and Latin. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_reform https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_re...

Slippery_John 6y ago
Well it doesn't really matter if a word is borrowed from another language. A loan word is still a word. Ketchup and tycoon are English words, garage is an English word, schadenfreude is an English word. The fact that these are also words in other languages doesn't change that. That said I can sympathize with wanting to preserve language, but it ultimately can't be controlled without buy-in from the people. On that vein I wonder how effective the French Academy is at combating anglicization.
- teruakohatu 6y ago
  > Well it doesn't really matter if a word is borrowed from another language. That is your opinion. As an English speaker I don't care less either, English is a mess and that's one of its best features, but I do have sympathy for Greeks who don't want to lose some of their the culture by incorporating English. > schadenfreude is an English word That is debatable. Many consider it a German word.