Quote:
Originally Posted by Benanov
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English never met a word it didn't like. It's highly mutable, and sometimes those words escape and go elsewhere.
I to this day will call Incoming when a restaurant server is bringing food to my table.
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
--James D. Nicoll
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Sure, English is mutable, but its flexibility serves a purpose. Taking the U out of colour improves it by simplifying it. Using "they" to refer to a single person of unspecified gender adds flexibility. Saying inc instead of incoming is more efficient. But adding an S to a word which is already plural is not an improvement or alternate usage or colloquialism...it's pointless. I'm still curious to hear why "gears" qualifies as slang. Are you guys saying it's like a nickname for gear? Like calling Mike "Mikey"?