Greek suffix meets Lingua Terra

Sometimes people complain that the word polyamory is a mix of Latin and Greek roots. I've been known to make that complaint myself. But perhaps next time I'm inclined to complain about that, I'll remember the following bit from Fuzzy Sapiens, by H. Beam Piper:

[Victor Grego says the word "Fuzzyologists" in conversation with Ernst Mallin.]

"I deplore that term, Mr. Grego. The suffix is Greek, from logos. Fuzzy is not a Greek word, and should not be combined with it."

"Oh, rubbish, Ernst. We're not speaking Greek; we're speaking Lingua Terra. You know what Lingua Terra is? An indiscriminate mixture of English, Spanish, Portuguese and Afrikaans, mostly English. And you know what English is? The result of the efforts of Norman men-at-arms to make dates with Saxon barmaids in the Ninth Century Pre-Atomic, and no more legitimate than any of the other results. If a little Greek suffix gets into a mess like that, it'll have to take care of itself the best way it can. [....]"

--pp. 96-97

3 Responses to “Greek suffix meets Lingua Terra”

  1. David Moles

    On the word “homosexual”, from Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love:

    A.E. Houseman: It’s half Latin and half Greek!

    Lawrence Houseman: That sounds about right.

    reply
  2. Jed

    🙂 Very nice. Thanks!

    reply

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