Someone recently posted on social media an interview that William F. Buckley did with Jorge Luis Borges. At one point the great Argentinian writer says that English is a finer language than Spanish. Buckley asks him why. Borges says that English is a combination of German and Latin. As a result, it often has, to say one thing, two words that are similar but not exactly the same. He gives as examples “regal” and “kingly,” “dark” and “obscure.” He says that if he writes “Holy Ghost” – “ghost” being a dark Saxon word, it is very different than if he writes “Holy Spirit,” “spirit” being a light Latin word. This makes English a more nuanced language.
Borges also claims English is a more physical language. “Loom over,” he says, is something you can’t really say in Spanish. He mentions other combinations of verbs and prepositions – “live up to something” “live down something” – that make English such a rich and satisfying language.
