In my last post I mentioned sticking my linguistic neck out. Then someone said "What linguistic neck?" Here's the rap: In 1974 I got a degree in two subjects from the University of Leeds, which is in England. One subject was Religious Studies, not theology but the comparative study of religion, consisting of the history, sociology, psychology, and philosophy of religion. The second subject was English, not just English literature but also English language. Since then I have maintained an interest in language, new words, shifts in grammar and pronunciation, that sort of thing.
Just to round out the cred factor, let me add that I also attended, from the age of 11 to 18, King Henry VIII Grammar School in Coventry, which is less than 20 miles from where Shakespeare was born. One of the school's best known graduates was the poet Philip Larkin, who was offered, but declined, the post of Poet Laureate (this whole paragraph means very little, of course, but it does mean I can claim, legitimately, to have had my poetry published in the same magazine as Larkin, namely The Coventrian, which is the KHVIII school magazine).
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