First post

Reading chapter 1 was interesting, but nothing really struck me as absolutely fascinating since most of it is either common sense or something that I've covered in a previous class (PSY - Language Acquisition or ANTH - Language in the U.S.A.) However, I did find the example in the discussion of "Language Change" interesting on how the translations of the same thing vary at different times.

How would you "translate" these in 2007?
1) Fancy the happiness of Pinocchio on finding himself free!
2) But whom shall I ask?
3) Without adding another word, the marionette bade the good Fairy good-by.

The Chapters!

The thing I found most interesting about chapter one was the section on ain't. I loved the when it had the sentences, "I'm good at that, __ I," which showed that ain't really is the proper contraction to use.

In chapter 2, I like the part about phrasal verbs. I think it is neat how phrasal verbs take can take their object after the verb, but if the object is "it," then it must go between the words. (e.g. "I made up a story," is fine, and "I made it up," is fine, but "I made up it," is not.)

Thinking about ain't, I wonder if all the forms of be can be made into contractions. (I am pondering "be." I've heard the form "be-n't," but "to not be -> to be-n't" doesn't seem like a natural transition.)