Congratulations on your first year! Yours was one of the first substacks I found of interest when I joined this platform last summer.
Personally I'm always interested in etymologies, especially the unexpected links between seemingly unrelated words (and equally the obvious-once-someone-points-it-out links). I love the fact that Tuesday is cognate with Jeudi, via the "sky-father", and i enjoy your "weird words" series - looking forward to the promised "history of english" series too!
Congratulations. Acknowledging that you can't make everyone happy, I most like the articles where you treat language more generally (as in your dead language difficulty list). And I am a reader - I only listen to podcasts in the car when it would be less than ideal to read.
And it's encouraging that in world where we are told that "everyone only has a 30 second tic-toc attention span" and "video rules", long form written content still has an audience.
Your post does remind me of a philosophy professor I had in college. He told us that he had been asked to write the "Plato" entry for some encyclopedia. Which he thought would be easy money. Until he realized that he had to give the intro, cliche, encyclopedia version. Which was actually quite hard for a scholar who'd been learning/researching and teaching Plato for more than 30 years.
Thank you! And that's very good to know. I'd like to write more like that tier list article. It was a bit of an experiment for me, but I think it's one I'm keen to repeat.
You need to keep a "beginner's mind" in writing these things, that's for sure. Being too pedantic is one way to fall off the tightrope; simply rewriting the Wikipedia article along with a thesaurus is another one. But I enjoy struggling with it all the same.
Some time ago now I came across the winged schwa. Now, you must admit, that is something nobody interested in language could possibly ignore. I had to sign up immediately.... and have stayed around.
The reason I find OE so fascinating is that at times it can be so near and other times so far; so articles that bridge the gap linguistically work for me. It’s a bonus if it links to historical content.
Ælfrics Bē manna cræftum looks interesting. Was it the script for a medieval sit com. Only joking . But it doesn’t come across as an epic poem.
So why did some spend time and money to produce it.
Wes þū hāl! You're absolutely right. That text (aka Colloquy on the Professions) is hilarious. It was originally written in Latin as a teaching text for young monks learning Latin. It was later translated into Old English to use alongside the Latin to make the process easier.
I’m finding OE grammar pretty intense, so humorous interludes are very welcome and it would appear that our ænglecynn were of a similar mind. This is one of the reasons why combining humour, historical context and linguistic tuition makes Osweald Bera so engaging.
I wish you all the best with your endeavours Colin and I believe you are on the right lines. Osweald doesn’t appear too freċenliċe so I think he would be well suited to the class room.
Do you think John Mcwhorter was on to something when he spoke of English as "our magnificent bastard tongue"? Do you agree with his characterization of English as a "semicreole" language? Would that be worth an article?
On balance, I do not agree with creolization analyses of the changes in Middle English, although it’s a subtle question. It’s definitely worth an article of its own!
Happy anniversary! I'm sure I am not the only one here who is not a native English speaker who reads and enjoys your posts regularly. One topic suggestion: etymology of English surnames and their pronounciation. E.g. your own name :)
Thank you! That might be a fun one to take reader questions for. Submit your names and we can publish the ones that have the most interesting origin stories. My name actually does have a pretty cool etymology so I'd throw my hat into the ring.
As much as I enjoy reading the articles, it is a great option to be able listen to them!
I've especially procured value in my own writing through your articles on poetry: "How to Write Poetry Like Tolkien" "How to End a Sentence with Style" "How Iambic Pentameter Really Works" and "The Ancient Poetic Law that Explains Basically Everything". Please do more of these!
Thank you, Trevor! I'll mark that down as a vote for audio and for more poetry/style articles! I really enjoyed writing those, so it's any easy sell for me :)
Thank you. Your Substack is a real treat. A lot of people on here are mostly reading about politics and have a few subscriptions to special topics of intellectual interest. I am most excited when I see you’ve dropped a new piece, and I would gladly drop all of my political reading if that’s what I had to do to continue reading Dead Language Society. It would be healthier for me too!
FYI - I completely relate to your point about nitpicking and footnotes. I am a nitpicker myself, and it is one of my less gracious tendencies. This tendency has bedeviled me in my (non-academic but highly technical) day job. I have learned the hard way, based on kind feedback, that there is a necessary trade-off between perfect accuracy and readability. When you’re just trying to communicate somethjng to an audience generally less knowledgeable than yourself, readability is far more important. The advice I repeat in my head while I’m writing is, “for the purpose of this document, if something is 90% true, or true more than 90% of the time, it is simply true.” And “footnote it and move on.”
Since I'm old now, I prefer audio. My struggles with the physical; adjusting my head to find the perfect focus line of my reading glasses, the resultant crick in my neck of the same operation, to the totality of my life experience flooding back into my brain while I'm trying to digest the text.
I typically don't read for pleasure. Being a mechanic by trade, having to consume book after book of technical material, has left my desire for reading waning.
I do however, enjoy learning about where our words originate. My interest was piqued many years ago when we had to learn Canterbury Tales for Senior English. We received a whole letter grade extra if we recited it in Old English.
I was always fascinated by why Mrs. Coffee always had us pronounce the 't' in often when no one else did.
My curiosity is triggered when reading the Bible and when a statement is made,
“…, which means …”.
What language are they referring to? Why call it by a foreign name when the text is already translated?
Since you asked: I prefer to read the articles. Reading is my medium of choice. Just sayin'. ;-))
Don't worry, no danger of going full audio. I couldn't even put in footnotes! :)
Love having the audio version! I'd really like that to continue.
Speaking of audio - is audiobook Ōsweald Bera still in the works? I need the pronunciation help :)
Thanks for letting me know!
And the Ōsweald Bera audio is still in the works. I've got another actor in studio next Tuesday!
Congratulations on your first year! Yours was one of the first substacks I found of interest when I joined this platform last summer.
Personally I'm always interested in etymologies, especially the unexpected links between seemingly unrelated words (and equally the obvious-once-someone-points-it-out links). I love the fact that Tuesday is cognate with Jeudi, via the "sky-father", and i enjoy your "weird words" series - looking forward to the promised "history of english" series too!
Thank you! Here's to many more weird words to come! (There is no shortage, as it turns out...)
Congratulations. Acknowledging that you can't make everyone happy, I most like the articles where you treat language more generally (as in your dead language difficulty list). And I am a reader - I only listen to podcasts in the car when it would be less than ideal to read.
And it's encouraging that in world where we are told that "everyone only has a 30 second tic-toc attention span" and "video rules", long form written content still has an audience.
Your post does remind me of a philosophy professor I had in college. He told us that he had been asked to write the "Plato" entry for some encyclopedia. Which he thought would be easy money. Until he realized that he had to give the intro, cliche, encyclopedia version. Which was actually quite hard for a scholar who'd been learning/researching and teaching Plato for more than 30 years.
Thank you! And that's very good to know. I'd like to write more like that tier list article. It was a bit of an experiment for me, but I think it's one I'm keen to repeat.
You need to keep a "beginner's mind" in writing these things, that's for sure. Being too pedantic is one way to fall off the tightrope; simply rewriting the Wikipedia article along with a thesaurus is another one. But I enjoy struggling with it all the same.
Some time ago now I came across the winged schwa. Now, you must admit, that is something nobody interested in language could possibly ignore. I had to sign up immediately.... and have stayed around.
All very enjoyable. Thank you.
Thanks for sticking with us, Jan!
Thanks for this. There are substacks I read everyday for information, but I read yours for fun. Love it.
Also FWIW I never listen to podcasts or audio versions (well, hardly ever).
Thank you for your kind words, Alan!
Wesaþ hāl
The reason I find OE so fascinating is that at times it can be so near and other times so far; so articles that bridge the gap linguistically work for me. It’s a bonus if it links to historical content.
Ælfrics Bē manna cræftum looks interesting. Was it the script for a medieval sit com. Only joking . But it doesn’t come across as an epic poem.
So why did some spend time and money to produce it.
Wes þū hāl! You're absolutely right. That text (aka Colloquy on the Professions) is hilarious. It was originally written in Latin as a teaching text for young monks learning Latin. It was later translated into Old English to use alongside the Latin to make the process easier.
Wes hāl. Iċ þancie þe
I’m finding OE grammar pretty intense, so humorous interludes are very welcome and it would appear that our ænglecynn were of a similar mind. This is one of the reasons why combining humour, historical context and linguistic tuition makes Osweald Bera so engaging.
I wish you all the best with your endeavours Colin and I believe you are on the right lines. Osweald doesn’t appear too freċenliċe so I think he would be well suited to the class room.
Do you think John Mcwhorter was on to something when he spoke of English as "our magnificent bastard tongue"? Do you agree with his characterization of English as a "semicreole" language? Would that be worth an article?
On balance, I do not agree with creolization analyses of the changes in Middle English, although it’s a subtle question. It’s definitely worth an article of its own!
Please don't give up the writing! The written word is the most important thing in my life!
Don't worry, Sheila! No plans to give up writing, ever! Audio would just be an extra.
Happy anniversary! I'm sure I am not the only one here who is not a native English speaker who reads and enjoys your posts regularly. One topic suggestion: etymology of English surnames and their pronounciation. E.g. your own name :)
Thank you! That might be a fun one to take reader questions for. Submit your names and we can publish the ones that have the most interesting origin stories. My name actually does have a pretty cool etymology so I'd throw my hat into the ring.
As much as I enjoy reading the articles, it is a great option to be able listen to them!
I've especially procured value in my own writing through your articles on poetry: "How to Write Poetry Like Tolkien" "How to End a Sentence with Style" "How Iambic Pentameter Really Works" and "The Ancient Poetic Law that Explains Basically Everything". Please do more of these!
Keep up the great work, Collin! Thank you.
Thank you, Trevor! I'll mark that down as a vote for audio and for more poetry/style articles! I really enjoyed writing those, so it's any easy sell for me :)
Congrats on a fantastic first year! Very well deserved. Here’s to many more!
Thank you very much, Danny!
Thank you. Your Substack is a real treat. A lot of people on here are mostly reading about politics and have a few subscriptions to special topics of intellectual interest. I am most excited when I see you’ve dropped a new piece, and I would gladly drop all of my political reading if that’s what I had to do to continue reading Dead Language Society. It would be healthier for me too!
FYI - I completely relate to your point about nitpicking and footnotes. I am a nitpicker myself, and it is one of my less gracious tendencies. This tendency has bedeviled me in my (non-academic but highly technical) day job. I have learned the hard way, based on kind feedback, that there is a necessary trade-off between perfect accuracy and readability. When you’re just trying to communicate somethjng to an audience generally less knowledgeable than yourself, readability is far more important. The advice I repeat in my head while I’m writing is, “for the purpose of this document, if something is 90% true, or true more than 90% of the time, it is simply true.” And “footnote it and move on.”
Thank you LV for your kind words! I'm very touched, and always enjoy reading your comments!
And that's wonderful advice. As you can tell, I'm also a fan of "footnote it and move on." Maybe a bit too much...
Since I'm old now, I prefer audio. My struggles with the physical; adjusting my head to find the perfect focus line of my reading glasses, the resultant crick in my neck of the same operation, to the totality of my life experience flooding back into my brain while I'm trying to digest the text.
I typically don't read for pleasure. Being a mechanic by trade, having to consume book after book of technical material, has left my desire for reading waning.
I do however, enjoy learning about where our words originate. My interest was piqued many years ago when we had to learn Canterbury Tales for Senior English. We received a whole letter grade extra if we recited it in Old English.
I was always fascinated by why Mrs. Coffee always had us pronounce the 't' in often when no one else did.
My curiosity is triggered when reading the Bible and when a statement is made,
“…, which means …”.
What language are they referring to? Why call it by a foreign name when the text is already translated?
Pursue your passion!
Thanks for the posts, they are a pleasure to read.
Thank you, Ephie!
Voiceovers would be a great addition, I always struggle with pronouncing foreign words, especially Old English, so it would a great help!