Fait accompli

Every so often someone makes the headlines by complaining that too many foreign words are making their way into English, and this has to stop. They give the impression that if this tendency goes on, there won't be any English language left. It will have been replaced by all the foreignisms.

American imports get a lot of the blame - words like cookie, closet, movie, apartment, campus, fries, soccer, mailbox. But other languages have given us plenty of words as well. Croissant from French. Delicatessen from German. Glitch from Yiddish. Macho from Spanish. Karaoke from Japanese. Gung-ho from Chinese. Moped from Swedish. Paparazzi from Italian. In other words, English is being infiltrated by other languages non-stop.

So why is this a problem? There seems to be some idea of linguistic purity - some mysterious essence of English - which is being corrupted by all these foreign intruders. They're turning our rich and sophisticated language into some second-rate and polluted language that's embarrassing to use.

What a load of nonsense. Words derived from other languages are constantly enriching and enhancing English. Without them our language would be static and stale and would gradually wither. New and unfamiliar words are fun to decipher and adapt to. And of course they're fun to try out on people who've never heard them.

In any case, what about all those English words that find their way into other countries' languages? I daresay those people who object to the pollution of English are quite happy to pollute other languages with our own linguistic migrants.

I suspect that the wholesale invasion of English by other languages is not a faux pas but simply a fait accompli.

Tall women

Why are so many short men still unwilling to date taller women? How come they're so lacking in confidence and so old-fashioned they find a taller woman intimidating and emasculating?

Does a few inches height difference really imply the man is inadequate and inferior? Or that he runs around doing her bidding like a faithful lapdog? These tired old stereotypes really should have had a decent burial by now.

But a six-foot-tall woman called Penny, writing in the London Independent, complains about the snide comments directed at Jamie Cullum and Sophie Dahl* and says little has changed since her American childhood in the 50s and 60s when boys "did not look twice at females taller than they were."

She longed to be short and cute and acceptable so she could actually date someone.

Even now, she says, the sniping about her height still goes on.
"I am filled with admiration for the men with the cojones to date taller women and for those women who are self-confident enough even to consider them."

And apparently the height hang-up doesn't stop with men wanting to be as tall as women. Even men of similar height can be discomforted if the woman adds extra inches.

One American blogger reports that her second husband, the same height as herself (5'9") freaked out when she wore high heels in public and became taller. She had to give up wearing heels in his presence. After the divorce (surprise!), the first thing she did was buy some new heels.

So be careful with your footwear, girls, it could seriously damage a few male egos!

Oh and since you ask, I'm six foot and Jenny's five six. I would happily have dated taller women but there aren't many taller than me!

* Who are 5'4" and 5'11" respectively