Comments on: Wake up kids!

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donperigo- The 3rd person address survives, I believe, in the US senate, i.e., "will the honorable Senator so-and-so please observe his time limit?" but it could be argued that this is a kind of American version of the powdered wig worn by English judges. I think it is a shame to see forms of language disappear - I don't mean "get replaced", but I mean quite literally disappear. The expressiveness of a language is thus reduced. Perhaps the age of Basic English and its 850-word dictionary is in our future... for the same reason I feel some quixotic urge to help 'vosotros' survive in Spanish. It almost certainly won't; heck, Spain has one of the lowest birthrates on the planet, Colombia now has as many speakers, the overall trend in instruction is to avoid the form (why master six forms when 85% of the Spanish-speaking world gets along with five?). I don't like to see linguistic forms die any more than I like to read of animals or plants becoming extinct. And if anyone thinks it is silly or fruitless to resurrect the distinct familiar form in English, consider the fact that clubs have popped up in Cornwall and the Isle of Man to resurrect technically dead Celtic languages. Perhaps they too are being silly, though no one actually says so - and I certainly wouldn't. I'd study a celtic language myself if they didn't all look so weird.

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streinikov1960 (a very good year by the way :-) I agree, its a shame to see languages losing some of their richness . I read up on thee/thou etc and it seems odd that the added precision of these forms would fall into disuse e.g for thine is the kingdom. has no ambiguity about the number of gods being worshiped wheras "yours is the kingdom" could be used by any old bunch of polytheists. However, presumably, these things wouldnt die out if they were genunely in continual use. Use it or lose it! as they (formal) say (sayest?) One can imagine a whole special set of tenses to be used exclusively by children and whilst [sic] this would undoubtedly offer precision it would have to compete with the efficiency of a one size fits all approach. no es vale la pena, como se dicen Speaking of children, this is, of course, "their" fault. if they listened to their elders we`d all still be speaking proto indo european! Desafortunadamente, Spanishpod would no longer be needed and that too would be sad. I do share your attraction to virtually extinct language, all the academic enjoyment without the potential embarassment of a chap telling people he's pregnant :-) PIEPod now there's an idea i can get behind !

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I have to admit that speaking Anglo-Saxon is not a very attractive idea. But speaking "Spanglish" is even more unappealing. I want to speak "good" Spanish someday. Why? To get girls, of course. They will hear me holding forth and say "Me mola este tipo - ¡qué lengua bonita!" I figure it's worth a try.

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me gustaría hablar Anglo Saxon quizas porque me prefiero mujeres mayores.

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Cuando era una niña joven cada día para el desayuno tenía "Cornflakes" con leche caliente tostada y de una taza de té grande. Ahora tengo un huevo de ebullición y café. Please let me know where I made mistakes.

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kizzyk Here are some corrections: Cuando era una niña cada día para el desayuno COMÍA o DESAYUNABA (if you use the verb desayunar then you take out DESAYUNO as a noun).....Ahora como un huevo hervido y café.

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My mom wouldn't have just taken away the TV, I would have gotten a good old fashioned spanking or "beating" or "whopping", on top of it. How would you say "spanking/beating" in Spanish?

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dear rodneyp, spanking=zurra beating=paliza Mi madre me hubiera dado una buena zurra, or un buen azote. "paliza" is more commonly used when you're in a fight in a bar.

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Cuando era jóven desayunaba barquillos, fruta, cereal y wafles...Con jugo de naranja, por supuesto!

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Cuando era más jóven comí para desayunar. tostada con huevos sobre, cereal, yogu, y siempre bebí un vaso de leche. Soy muy alto por eso quizas bebí demasiado!