David Crystal - English Quotes

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Every language that English has come into contact with, it's pinched some of the words — thousands and thousands of words in many cases. And something like six-hundred languages have loaned or given words to English over the past 1,000 years.

David Crystal

Texters use deviant spellings - and they know they are deviant. But they are by no means the first to use such nonstandard forms as cos "because", wot "what", or gissa "give us a". Several of these are so much part of English literary tradition that they have been given entries in the Oxford English Dictionary. "Cos" is there from 1828 and "wot" from 1829.

David Crystal

English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans, and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance, with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background.

David Crystal

English has had abbreviated words ever since it began to be written down. Words such as exam, vet, fridge, cox and bus are so familiar that they have effectively become new words.

David Crystal

The story of the English writing system is so intriguing, and the histories behind individual words so fascinating, that anyone who dares to treat spelling as an adventure will find the journey rewarding.

David Crystal