I had a wonderful car moment last night when I was driving home from work. I was sitting in traffic on Davenport listening to Disc Drive on CBC2, when I glance out my window at the car exactly beside me. There, stopped in traffic heading the other way, was an almost identical Subaru - a slightly later model Loyale, I think. Even the colour was almost the same. The woman behind the wheel, in her later middle age with a similar style as my mother, was looking at Scarlette with a big smile on her face. I grinned and gave her the thumbs-up, which she answered with her own. Hurray for old-school Subaru owners !

So, it turns out that the only person to remark on my entry about apostrophes and Old English was Tanya, who got quite professorish at me as she gave me a lecture about Old English vs. Middle English. Usually, such emails come from Nick, so this was a bit of a surprise. Of course, I'm opting to completely disregard her opinion, because... well, because I can. Hah ! Anyway, at least the entry sparked some controversy, though not at all about apostrophes or semi-colons. Actually, Tanya's email was quite interesting and did spark some return discussion from me. She's right, but I think I'm also right, at least to a degree, and maybe we'll have to leave it at that. The thing with history, especially the history of language, is that since no one was THERE to record it, we cannot ever know for sure. Maybe, to better qualify terms like Old English, we should make a broader scale that reflects demographic changes and whatnot.

Proto English - pre 300CE
Early English - 300-1066CE
Old English - 1066-1350CE
Middle English - 1350-1700CE
Modern English - 1700 onward
American Spelling - ongoing problem

And then anyone who deviates from said scale, can be drawn and quartered, or beheaded, or flayed, or hanged, or shot, depending on the time period they're referring to. Is that a bit over the top? Perhaps. Okay, well, I still think my list should stand. Tanya, your thoughts? ;)