The reason we have different words in English for or in modern American English at least for the animal versus the meat that comes from the animal is because of that class distinction. So cow became le buff and that is exactly why we have that to faced way to call animals and meat in English today. But language has evolved so much since the old English period precisely because there were a lot of codification and standardizations that existed in the Middle English period to tell us how to speak. And so it was natural evolutionary processes natural trickulatory forces that led language to where it is today. It really wasn't until about the 18th century that we had people that were like wow you know I like the
Language changes, and that's not a bad thing! This week, Adam is joined by sociolinguist Valerie Fridland to uncover how language is much more malleable than we're led to believe, and how the resistance against new slang often disguises an attempt to limit the influence of marginalized communities. Pick up Valerie's book at factuallypod.com/books
Like the show? Rate Factually! 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts and let Adam know what conversation you'd like to hear next.
Advertise on Factually! via Gumball.fm
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/adamconover
SEE ADAM ON TOUR: https://www.adamconover.net/tourdates/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.