jackster79: Pardon for jumping in, but I am curious:
In your experience, are there any other languages besides English that are guilty of doing things just because? If so, how is that aspect of of them compared to English's?
j0ekerr: I take it you have never studied any romance languages? Their
just because rules and exceptions are everywhere, to the point that sometimes they seem to outnumber the regularities.
English grammar is
orderly (yes german speakers I just said that, stop scoffing) compared to most romance languages. Latin from which they evolved was a royal pain in the neck with the seemingly unlimited number of declensions. But they had a system, a method to the madness. Romance languages chucked that out of the window.
No, cannot say I have (unless French is one of them?).
Our grammar may be orderly but seriously, we do NOT need 10 million ways to say the same thing (and not each use is context-sensitive). To illustrate, I think English is the only language where all these exist:
1.) Words that both sound and are spelled the same but have different meanings (i.e. nap)
2.) Words that both sound and mean the same, but are spelled differently (i.e. color, colour)
3.) Words that both are spelled and mean the same but sound differently (i.e. route)
4.) Words that have the same meaning but are spelled and sound differently (i.e. adore, love)