When I was a sophomore in high school — this was just a plain old everyday public high school, not a school for high-achieving nerds or anything — our English teacher let us write an end-of-year research paper on any topic we liked. I have no idea why, of all possible subjects, at the age of 15 I decided to research Old English. (And then, a year later, to continue the investigation by focusing on Middle English.)
Whatever the reason, and no matter in how many forms I see it covered, the topic never gets old for me. This was sheer pleasure:
[Hat tip to Jules, via Facebook]
Its style reminds me a little of something which might have appeared scattered throughout several episodes of the old Rocky & Bullwinkle TV show: kidding, but not quite.
marta says
Love the video–even though in grad school I had to translate Middle English into modern English, and let me say…that was no fun at all.
whaddayamean says
heeheehee why does this not surprise me?
we had a sophomore year “thesis,” too. i did mine on THE SOUND & THE FURY. to this day, it was the longest/most comprehensive/serious paper i ever had to write (uh, including at college). thank you, public high school :)
Jayne says
That dang Hundred Years war. IMHO, French is a much prettier language. N’est-ce pas?
FYI–love Chapter 5–Speaking in Gravity (which, BTW, I still don’t understand).
Globish language we speak. Its evolution, however, fascinates me. Great video. :)