One of the reasons for the ascendance of the English-speaking world has been that the English language is almost alone among major languages in having the word “earn.”

Those of us whose native language is English assume that the phrase “to earn a living” is universal. It isn't. It is almost unique to English. Few languages have the ability to say this.

In the Romance languages, for example – a list that includes such major languages as Spanish, French, and Italian — the wo ...

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