[derleth]

However, and this is key, those rules are completely and utterly arbitrary, meaning that nobody would come up with them on their own, so knowing them meant you were taught them, and having been taught them meant you were of a high enough social class to be Our Sort. Therefore, speaking English in accordance with those rules is a class marker, something that's always useful whenever people may attempt to get Above Themselves.

Hey, it's this or going back to doing it based on skin color and last names.

[saraid216]

> nobody would come up with them on their own

Um. Someone had to.

[lutusp]

I think he meant that they came into existence ad hoc, with so many originators that its genesis would be nearly impossible to sort out.