Joanna Sheldon wrote:
> that the popular use more often than not misrepresents, and
> sometimes very badly, the original meaning;
Had our ancestors adhered to this principle we would still be saying things like
...git gelamp hio thaet an hearpere waes in thaere thiode se haten Grece rice ...
Quoted from memory, probably several errors.
And if somewhat more recent ancestors had begun to follow this principle, we would still be saying things like
Abak he stirte, and thoughte it was amys,
For wel he wiste a womman hath no berd
Jonathan Swift fought mightily against the vulgarity of "bus," and T. S. Eliot thought "television" was ill bred (it combines greek & latin in one word.)
Carrol