Language changes; all languages borrow words

       I learned an astounding statistic or two today from my recorded course "The Story of Human Language."  Of all the words in the Oxford English Dictionary, 99% are borrowed from other languages, that is, NOT from the Anglo-Saxon roots which make English distinctive.

       Yet those native Anglo-Saxon roots constitute 62% of the words actually most used:  these latter, of course, include words such as and, but, to, not, father, will,  from, should and so on.

       But if we got rid of all the borrowed words that have become an accepted part of English, the OED would be a slim shadow of itself.

       (You can find out about Professor John McWhorter's "Great Course" for The Teaching Company here.)