On Monday 15 July 2002 14:11, David Golden wrote:
> On Monday 15 July 2002 04:01, Dave Leigh wrote:
> > I express the same thought by saying, "English is the XML of linquistics:
> > every conversation should be accompanied by a schema." Native speakers
> > (me included) often have as much trouble as you.
>
> I prefer "English is the Perl of natural languages" - English people see
> words and grammatical rules in other languages, and if they like them, in
> they go, and to hell with consistency.   English is basically what you get
> when you take most other major european languages and roll them together.
> Perl's kinda like that, too...

Well, certainly that's true. However, I was talking about the fact that in 
English the SAME WORD has multiple meanings, and often the meaning is 
assigned solely by the speaker. I have a dictionary here with about FORTY 
definitions of "run"! And, since it's an old dictionary, it doesn't even list 
it in the computer sense of executing a program.

-- 
Dave Leigh, Consulting Systems Analyst
Cratchit.org
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The two things that can get you into trouble quicker than anything else
are fast women and slow horses.