I read somewhere ~ perhaps someone can authoratitively confirm or refute
this ~ that English as a language derives from a Germanic dialect originally
spoken in a single village of Ostfriesland; it sounds rather implausible to
me, but maybe there are a couple of shared features (despite all the
varieties of "English" referred to by you, Robin) that back up the
identification. The joke there is that modern German speakers pretend to
find the East Friesians screamingly funny as the ultimate dumbos, much as
the English will retail stories about the Scots being skinflints (though the
German skinflints are supposed to be the Swabians.)
Martin
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