We know that a few words are the same in all languages, or at least many languages, because they move from one language to another. It's only natural, as we travel the globe and find things and concepts that are new to us. There are a lot of "loanwords" that just become a part of the second language. That's what we get for communicating. Even more common are words taken from another language and then get changed a bit to fit better into the second language. You might even call them mangled, as some examples end up being rather funny to people who speak both the old and new languages. Then there are "calques," which I wasn't at all familiar with, but it has to do with translation. Tom Scott explains these leaps of language that eventually enrich all of our languages. Along the way, we also find out where Admiral Ackbar's name came from.
Comments (1)
I did have a girlfriend who left me a "present" in the loo. Apparently it got wedged on the u-bend and returned after she left. I remember having to push it and break it up with the toilet brush before the turd would move into the next life. It was abnormally big!
I'd not blame British plumping so much, as some people can do quite scary sized turds that would not go down fighting in any toilet in the world. This person just lacked common sense.