English

From RationalWiki

English is a lightly-inflected Germanic language of Indo-European extraction, with a large proportion of words assimilated from other languages, in particular from classical languages (such as Greek and Latin) via French and scientific terminology.

Note: in the definition above, although used as a noun, English is in fact a shortened form of the phrase English language where English is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to England.

There are many versions of the English language, with variation in spelling, grammar and pronounciation. The worldwide spread of English is initially attributable to the British colonial expansion from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Since this time the increasing domination of the U.S.A. has further consolidated the language as the second most widely spoken language in the world.^[1]

(Initially the Conservapedia guidelines specified American spelling - this has since been relaxed to allow the inclusion of British English "where appropriate".)

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ http://www.englishenglish.com/english_facts_1.htm

S T U B (The Pet Goat ate it)