this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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It's not random. French and Latin were the languages of the ruling class -monarchy and Church, while the poor used Old English. That's why the animal is 'Cow', but the meat is 'Beef'.
Also why swear words are swears. They're what the common people called things, and it was a way of denigrating the proletariat to regard it as foul language.
Shit Vs excrement
Fuck Vs copulate
Etc
Most of our short abrupt words came from Vikings like Skull and most of our swear words. Not the culturally superior Saxons