Just my Hapence – you told me a few weeks ago not to continue with a question, it won’t lead anywhere good. So I’m returning the favour (yes, note the “u”, I’m also one of Her Majesty’s subjects, though not in your neck of the woods). Ready Now is not ready to discern that a real godol can separate the wheat from the chaff; he is not ready to accept that what Rambam read and did not read is something for which we have no evidence, as Rambam didn’t enlighten us as to what parts of Plato he read and why. As an aside, wasn’t Plato quoting Solon who was quoting even older Egyptian sources?
Ready now is not ready to understand that one learns the best use of language by studying how others have used it; Shakespeare taught generations how vast and complex the usage of English even in the 17th century could be. yeshivos and bais yaakovs have used his works for generations. Tolkien is also an excellent teacher in that regard, and there are few who can comapre with his style, structure, and approach to imagery. On the other hand, so is Orwell, who was an atheist, but that doesn’t stop yeshivos and bais yaakovs around the world from using Animal Farm. As you may know, one of the best essays on the use of language is Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” which I highly recommend to anyone, and it is easy to find online.
As I have noted on other threads, Rashi was an astute observer of the development of French language. He included over 1300 transliterations to Old French in his commentary on the Torah, and over 3500 in the commentary on the gemoro. Does Ready Now think that all of them had something to do with the growing of grapes or the selling of wine, which was Rashi’s trade? Does anyone develop a vocabulary of over 5000 complex words in a language without reading it?
I don’t think Ready Now is ready for the mamashus of this discussion.