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How far back in time can you understand English? (www.deadlanguagesociety.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Chromebby@lemmy.world to c/neat@lemmy.world
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Very entertaining. I’m totally lost around 1400. I don’t even recognize 1200 as English lol.

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[-] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

I still think that 1800s Charles Dickens English was the high point of the language and the version we should aspire to

[-] LordMayor@piefed.social 7 points 17 hours ago

From the article:

They’re both performances of a sort: the 2000s protagonist is performing for his blog’s audience, so the tone is chatty and personal. The 1800s protagonist, with the mind of a Georgian diarist, is performing for posterity, so he philosophizes.

I thought that was interesting.

this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
147 points (99.3% liked)

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