In philology, there is a principle called the "principle of least effort." Simply put, the "law of laziness." Instead of saying "vetrenEN," we say "vetren," and instead of the etymologically correct "dikoObraz" (from "wild image"), we say "dikobraz," and so on. The great and mighty Russian language is changing in this direction right now, and some scholars suggest that this law is actually fundamental—that is, laziness is what drives our language.

In class, we all agreed that it drives more than just language.

But right now, I want to say: it's not just Russian. There is one thing I really love about modern English. Either we didn't study it in school, or I forgot, and I apologize if so.

I'm talking about the formation of verbs through simple conversion from nouns. For example, to put pies into boxes is "to box the pies," and to spread butter on biscuits is "to butter the biscuits." But for some reason, the verb "to superglue smth" really won me over. I think it's wonderful. Simple and somehow concise. And indeed—we are saving linguistic resources. We are lowering, so to speak, the informational entropy in the universe.

One of the most popular examples today is the word "poguglit" ("zaguglit," "guglit"). But listen to how much more expressive the original is, unburdened by prefixes and endings—"to google." Simple, as it is. Yes, while remaining a patriot of my native tongue, I cannot help but admit that some things sound much better in other languages. For example, a feature of English grammar that I love very much: the use of an auxiliary verb to create logical emphasis. For instance, here is an excerpt from the epilogue of the last Harry Potter:

"Hermione didn't believe I could pass a Muggle driving test, did you? She thought I'd have to Confund the examiner." "No, I didn't," said Hermione, "I had complete faith in you." "As a matter of fact, I did Confund him," Ron whispered to Harry.

I DID Confund him. We can only do such things with intonation.

And one last word on language. I hasten to disappoint, or perhaps delight, those learning English: all—I won't be afraid to use this word—the months spent learning the difference between Present Simple and Present Continuous are almost a waste. Americans ask with equal frequency "What time do you work tomorrow?" or "What time are you working tomorrow?" Not having received an education at the Faculty of Philology, say, at SamSU, they don't know that the future tense is only expressed by the present continuous. So, put the textbooks aside and just—speak, speak, speak.