Re: Newbie says hi

Andreas Johansson scripsit:

> Is it a more-or-less consciously created auxlang, or some sort of "organic"
> lingua franca that got promoted to the language of the powers that be*?
The latter.

> * Why is it "the powers that be", and not the "powers that are"?
Because the original context (Romans 13:1) says "the powers that be
are ordained of God", and "the powers that are are ordained of God"
would sound really stoopit.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com
"If he has seen farther than others,
        it is because he is standing on a stack of dwarves."
                --Mike Champion, describing Tim Berners-Lee (adapted)