3 ms·
I think the point of the parent comment is that, although English is full of borrowed words and phrases, you're not switching to speaking French/German/Latin wh
by leoedin 3y ago
I think the point of the parent comment is that, although English is full of borrowed words and phrases, you're not switching to speaking French/German/Latin while saying them. You're still speaking English, it's just a subset of English which was borrowed from somewhere.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- vintermann 3y agoYou can define it that way, and sure, there's a certain difference when we borrow phrase bits from languages we don't actually understand and use them as an expression (inter alia, et cetera) and when we do. But the latter also happens when bilingualism is common. I won't actually consider these wholesale expression borrowings part of English until they spread to English speakers who don't speak the borrowed language.
- tchaffee 3y agoThe people who originally used these words were switching. It only became accepted by English speakers much later.