On language... Several years ago PBS, publicly funded television in the States, ran a series hosted by Robert MacNeill on the "History of the English Language". One installment dealt with how endings have changed over the last 300-400 years and how these same endings have impacted the understanding of English as well as the development of jthe language.

One bit that I remember from this, and still find fascinating, dealt with the "-ing" ending. It traced known usage and development as well as acceptance in recorded instances. This sent wee Robert off on a tangent about folk living in Appalachia in the States. It, may actually have been in the Carolinas, but I seem to recall it was Appalachia. Anyway, the topic was how educated folk tended to look down on people from this region who "drop the 'g'" in the "-ing" ending, and prefice the given verb with "a". As in, "I'm a fixin..." Wee Robert's point was that to be perfectly accurate, they are not "dorpping the 'g'" - given that this was correct and proper English grammer in the late 17th century and early 18th century, these folk simply never added it.

Cheers -

Pete