Quaint-English Theory Poem by Douglas Scotney

That the English adopted 'guile' from the French,
fell in love with it
and didn't even change the spelling,
so got up the noses of the French
that they dropped it
and used astuce and fourberie instead.

Also adopted, and loved was 'cointe',
though the spelling changed to 'quaint'.
The French still sneezed, and chose another,
'vieillot', which also means 'old-fashioned'.
Now when they see old 'guile' in an English text,
'It fits them, their language vieillot, ' they say,
'they're ruled by a great grandmother.'