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The English Language
Possibly one of the most confusing languages on the planet.
English is a bastardized language. It borrows from a plethora of other languages including Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French, Greek, old Germanic, Old Norse, Dutch, Celtic, Norman, Hindi, Hebrew, and Arabic.
The very first version of English came into use around the 5th century when Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invaded the island of Britain or Briton. Their language, called Anglo-Saxon, combined with the various dialects that existed in Britain at the time to became Olde English.
Countries in the world today, where English is the mainstream language, include England, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, South Africa, Malta, Jamaica, and a number of small island nations. All these countries speak a variation of English with their own dialects, slang, and array of expletives, profanities, and four-letter words.
I moved from New Zealand to Canada in 1969, travelling from one English-speaking country to the other, so I thought. At that time, I was an auto mechanic. I discovered when I secured a job I had to learn a whole new lexicon of English in order to be able to understand much of what native-born Canadian mechanics were talking about. A few of these are as follows with the North American version…
