From its proto-form and early Roman influence, to the Norman conquests, to its transformation into a global lingua franca and contender for having most words, the English language has cultivated a vast and particularly fascinating vocabulary.
It combines both a diverse array of foreign and borrowed words, and compound words (i.e. today, maybe, etc.) that have become essential to everyday speech. Yet the latter feature is quite inconsistent. Terms like alongside are considered one word, but others, such as gold standard, are not.
But what if English, for all of its inconsistencies, avoided one less OTL annoyance and, like its German cousin, allowed speakers to create arbitrarily long compound words (i.e. UnitedstatesofAmerica)?
Thank you in advance,
Zyobot