I read Language Log all the time. Sometimes I don’t understand it. (Yes, I took lingustics. No, I’m not a linguist.)

But this is what I liked best about the above-referenced post: ” those little changes that wear languages thin and loosen things and make things drop off our language like buttons off an old coat. ”

Can’t you just see the coat? Maybe a bright red hunting coat worn by our parents’ great-grandfather in Somerset (you have to read Living, and even then you might not get it)? And there it is, in the hall, on a peg. And it’s rich, bright, thick, lovely in many ways. And the button falls off.

What a rich metaphor! I loved it.

Note: I fully understood Geoffrey’s article on language degradation, including his account of what isn’t language degradation. I concur with him on that. (History of words being a hobby of mine. That and using archaic forms of words.)