Blame it on the monks… and that liquor!

Those poor monks… just trying to stay up all night and chant… then trying to stay up all day and not doze off at their tables in their rooms praying. Yet they get blamed for everything.

Today, my French teacher told me his theory about why French is such a, well, messed up language… with thousands of “irregular” verbs and exceptions to every rule (except the rule stating that every rule has an exception.) Blame it on the monks.

Here’s his take on things: hundreds of years ago everything written in French was written by the monks. And the monks like to hit the bottle a little. So, with the aid of perhaps some green liquor, a monk or two went to work and, well, made some mistakes. Repeatedly. Until it actually altered the language.

I don’t know if I believe that. But it does make you wonder… does that mean that learning French would be easier if tried after a drink or two?

One Response to “Blame it on the monks… and that liquor!”

  1. D.A.D. says:

    drunk monk drunk monk drunk monk . . say it three times and you know their state of mind when scribing things centuries ago. If you sat in a cell and prayed all day every day you’d be irregular too.

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