From: Richard Ridge (richard_ridge@tao-group.com)
Date: Tue Jan 08 2002 - 03:30:21 MST
> If there are more ways to store the same value, you end up with a language
> like english: a zillion different ways to say the word "hill",
> and a zillion
> different minor differences with each of those ways to say the
> word "hill".
> Hummock, tussock, rise, ridge, mountain... they're all the same. Aren't we
> confusing ourselves at that point?
No, we aren't as none of those terms are the same (closely related yes,
identical in all respects no); my guess is that if any of those terms were
surplus to requirements they would simply have fallen into desuetude (like
badmash or bashment). The broad lexicon possessed by English is surely one
of its advantages as a language (the converse being its somewhat haphazard
origin and construction), where only Russian has a similarly broad
vocabulary available to its speakers (IIRC). While I doubt that anyone would
see English as a model of minimalist efficiency, I'm not sure that's
necessarily a particularly helpful yardstick for assessing the merits of any
particular language.
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