>English has a long and twisted history which led to its current state. >First English, despite, everything, is still a Germanic lanquage, not a >Romance lanquage. Way back, Old English was very much a dialect of German >but it evolved and the French via William I got involved, piling on all >sorts of Frenchisms. Later, greek and latin words were piled on. Now we >have a mess but a wonderful mess. I mean, how many laquages made D'oh an >official word? As long as we're on the subject, I thought I'd throw out a recommendation for a good book on the subject: _The Power of Babel_ by John McWhorter. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006052085X/104-2786912-6095951 _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus