Monday, August 10

Churchill, brilliant and mischievous

Is this true?

We know Churchill was a man among boys, but this puts him way above that (though who would have gotten his sleight-of-tongue but dedicated etymologists and the most hardcore Churchillophiles?). I can just imagine his self-satisfaction and amusement.

From Wikipedia (I know, but since this is saying something good about the good, it might be credible):
In the most famous passage, beginning "We shall fight on the beaches..." and ending "...we shall never surrender", the assertions consist entirely of Germanic words descending from Old English, while the only French-derived word or concept is the thing rejected: "surrender".