<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">But the four-letter words you shout after hitting your thumb with the hammer or falling off the ladder are Anglo-Saxon. <div><br><div><div>On Jun 25, 2012, at 12:55 PM, Andrew Whitacre wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div>However, our best short words come from German, Dutch, and old English. I've been thinking about this as a homeowner who's had to start fixing/building things myself. Nail, hammer, stair, rail, ladder, roof, work, fall, hurt, whine, then, wait, sod, mow, tired, and broke are all Germanic or Old English.</div><div><br></div><div>Mortgage, however, is Latinate.<br><div apple-content-edited="true">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Andrew Whitacre<br>Communications Director<br><a href="http://cms.mit.edu/">cms.mit.edu</a> | <a href="http://civic.mit.edu/">civic.mit.edu</a> | <a href="http://gambit.mit.edu/">gambit.mit.edu</a></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</div><div style="font-weight: normal; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">(617) 324-0490<br><a href="mailto:awhit@mit.edu">awhit@mit.edu</a></span></div></span></div></span></span>
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<br><div><div>On Jun 25, 2012, at 12:26 PM, William T. G. Litant wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>And here I thought I was the only one yanking out his hair:<br><br><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404577466662919275448.html">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303410404577466662919275448.html</a><br><br>Best,<br>Bill<br><br><br>William Litant<br>communications director<br>Aeronautics and Astronautics Department<br>and<br>Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction<br>33-240 Mass. Institute of Technology<br>77 Massachusetts Ave.<br>Cambridge, MA 02139<br>01-617-253-1564<br><a href="http://www.mit.aero">http://www.mit.aero</a><br>Twitter: @MITAeroAstro<br>FB: MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics<br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Editors mailing list<br>Editors@mit.edu<br>http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/editors<br></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>Editors mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Editors@mit.edu">Editors@mit.edu</a><br>http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/editors<br></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>