Readers might find interesting a rather neat posting from Mr Verb a couple of days ago on the subject of English and borrowing.
The posting includes a picture of a T-shirt, inscribed with the words:
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that the English language is as pure as a crib-house whore. It not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary.
Now to get hold of that T-shirt!