Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 30/09/2026deadlanguagesociety.com“Corn” is a weird wordNot all corn comes on cobs 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 23/09/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhat have the Normans ever done for us?Jumping on the Bayeux bandwagon to talk about Norman French 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 16/09/2026deadlanguagesociety.comAgainst CicerofishingWelcome to the Substack of the 16th century 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 09/09/2026deadlanguagesociety.comMy kingdom for a *h₁éḱwos!How work, war, and empire renamed the horse 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 05/08/2026deadlanguagesociety.comMedieval beach readsHow to read Middle English and Scots texts in the original 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 29/07/2026deadlanguagesociety.comDoes your name belong in the Odyssey?The ancient formula still alive in “Richard” and “Audrey” 010
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 22/07/2026deadlanguagesociety.comI’m writing a book!The story of English before it was English 010
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 15/07/2026deadlanguagesociety.comThe fatal letterThe near-death and resurrection of “h” 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 08/07/2026deadlanguagesociety.com“Weird” is a weird wordFrom Beowulf to Shakespeare to you 011
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 01/07/2026deadlanguagesociety.comThe long shadow of the Celtic languagesEverything we can learn from the word ‘rich’ 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 24/06/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy the word “mead” shows up in ChineseHoney words turn out to be rather sticky 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 17/06/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy we love 19th-century writingAnd why we don’t write like that anymore 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 16/06/2026deadlanguagesociety.comSir Gawain and the Green Knight Book Club 4. 1998–2530The games come to an end 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 10/06/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhen will Modern English end?Or is it already over? 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 03/06/2026deadlanguagesociety.comThere’s no such thing as g-droppin’That apostrophe is a lie 011
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 02/06/2026deadlanguagesociety.comSir Gawain and the Green Knight Book Club 3. 1126–1197Three hunts outdoors, three hunts indoors 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 27/05/2026deadlanguagesociety.comHow to read Beowulf (and actually enjoy it)It’s not really about the monsters 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 20/05/2026deadlanguagesociety.comEnglish has no futureWill, shall, and other mysteries 111
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 19/05/2026deadlanguagesociety.comSir Gawain and the Green Knight Book Club 2. 491–1125Gawain's ride north 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 13/05/2026deadlanguagesociety.comThe ancient logic of “snuck”Bad grammar or living fossil of Proto-Germanic? 001
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 06/05/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy you’re not supposed to end a sentence with a prepositionAnd why you do it anyway 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 05/05/2026deadlanguagesociety.comSir Gawain and the Green Knight Book Club 1: 1–490Enter the Green Knight 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 29/04/2026deadlanguagesociety.comThe Canterbury CommuteVerses composed in Middle English while waiting for the 7:42 train 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 22/04/2026deadlanguagesociety.comHow to pronounce Middle EnglishA complete guide + audio 011
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 15/04/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy you should read Sir Gawain and the Green KnightThis spring’s book club pick 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 08/04/2026deadlanguagesociety.comA bluffer’s guide to etymologyHow to guess the age and origin of any English word 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 01/04/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy the verb “to be” is so irregularThe answer is six thousand years old 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 25/03/2026deadlanguagesociety.comThe age when English could do anythingAnd why we wouldn't have Shakespeare without it 001
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 18/03/2026deadlanguagesociety.comNo, Shakespeare didn’t invent those wordsBias, evidence, and the Oxford English Dictionary 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 11/03/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy English spelling actually does make senseEnglish spelling is optimal, from a certain point of view 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 04/03/2026deadlanguagesociety.comLeave the em-dash aloneThis writing panic has a 500-year precedent 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 25/02/2026deadlanguagesociety.comWhy the worst idea in linguistics won’t dieThe Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is mostly wrong 000
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 18/02/2026deadlanguagesociety.comHow far back in time can you understand English?An experiment in language change 184
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 17/02/2026 [Audio] [Original post on deadlanguagesociety.com]deadlanguagesociety.comWhat happens when languages collide?A conversation with Daniel W. Hieber 010
Dead Language Society | Colin Gorrie | Substack [Unofficial] @deadlanguagesociety.com.web.brid.gy · 11/02/2026deadlanguagesociety.com1066 didn't change English (but 1250 did)How all those French words actually got into English 010