Self-study activity:
Watch the second chapter of The History of English, from The Opening University, and fill in the blanks in the transcript with the missing words.
1066. True to his name William the Conqueror (1) ... England bringing new concepts from across the Channel, like the French language, the Domesday Book and the duty-free (unknown word) (2) ... .
French was "de rigueur" for all official business, with words like "judge", "jury", "evidence" and "justice" coming in and giving John Grisham's career a (3) ... .
Latin was still used "ad nauseam" in (4) ..., but the common man spoke English, able to communicate only by speaking more slowly and (5) ... until the others understood him.
Words like "cow", "sheep" and "(6) ..." come from the English speaking farmers. While the "a la carte" versions "beef", "mutton" and "(7)..." come from the French speaking toffs, beginning a long-running trend of restaurants having completely indecipherable menus.
All in all, the English absorbed about (8) ... new words from the Normans, though they still couldn't (9) the rules of cheek kissing.
The "bon" army all ended when the English nation took their new warlike lingo of "armies", "navies" and "soldiers" and began the Hundred Years' War against France. It actually lasted a (10) ... years but by that point no one could count any higher in French and English took over as the language of power.
Key:
1 invades 2 multipack 3 kick-start 4 church 5 loudly 6 swine 7 pork 8 ten thousand 9 grasp 10 one hundred and sixteen
