This year marks the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, a translation that influenced the development of the English language as much as it did the Christian faith. Right alongside many other anniversary celebrations taking place this year, Glen Scrivener, a minister in the Church of England, has started a blog about the linguistic impact of the text, focusing on 365 phrases that have passed in common parlance. A lot of this gets artfully distilled by Scrivener’s short video, The King’s English – 100 phrases in 3 Minutes (above).
Scrivener’s work is nicely complemented by a witty animated video taken from The History of English in 10 Minutes, a sequence created by The Open University earlier this year.
H/T Metafilter
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Just absolutely brilliant. I had no idea that the KGB sounded as lyrical as a piece of Shakespeare. Although it sorta makes sense given the time period, and King James was an avid follower of the Arts. :)