Everyday English for Grown-ups

Here are some examples (well there’s one already):

Stationery/Stationary Paper and envelopes/Remain still

the farmer’s daughter wore a frock, but the lady of the manor wore a robe. Similarly, French tended to be used in law – thus we have words like mortgage (literally meaning ‘dead pledge’) or parole (‘spoken word’).

we have a sheep or a cow (Anglo-Saxon) in the field but the more refined mutton or beef (from the French mouton and bœuf) at the table

with Norman French words being used by the ruling class

A two-tier language developed

many new words from the Old Norse: gap, ill, mire, reindeer, root, scowl, skull, sky, to mention a handful.

the Anglo-Saxons began to adopt the Roman alphabet, modifying it to suit their own requirements.

Pope Gregory to convert the people of Britain to Christianity.

(where Celtic languages still survive to this day).