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Comment by ILMostro7 | Hacker News Reader

What if you do:

s/Esperantists/English-speakers/ and "non-English"

AFAIK, the English language is very verbose. If there are so many words, many of which have very similar meaning to others, then many of those words are not needed? Should be removed, even, until everyone forgets them and doesn't miss them at all?

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> the English language is very verbose. If there are so many words, many of which have very similar meaning to others, then many of those words are not needed?

"Very similar" is not the same as "identical". Having multiple words with similar, but not identical, meanings allows you to express more detailed nuances and shades of meaning.

All human languages have redundancy, ambiguity, inconsistencies, etc. English isn’t special in this regard.

> Should be removed

Language is an emergent social phenomenon, not something anyone really controls or directs, so what “should” be done with it is a bit meaningless.

Doesn’t France have their like, organization which defines what officially valid french is?

In theory yes, but their decisions have virtually zero influence on real-world speech.

It used to be, but nowadays the organization only claims to "observe" how the language evolves instead of deciding what’s valid and what’s not. Also, France doesn’t have the monopoly of French: 80% of French speakers are outside France; the largest French-speaking city of the world is Kinshasa, in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Of course. My argument was intended more of a thought exercise. Sorry about that. I should admit that I saw humour in the parent comment. But, it can be tough to tell sometimes online. Admittedly, it also depends on the reader's state of mind.

Should be removed by what or by whom? English doesn't have an equivalent of the Icelandic Language Institute or French Academy, and even if it did, there's no reason to believe that institution could control the development of a language that's used all over the world by so many people.

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