A witan was the king's council in Anglo-Saxon government of England between the 7th and 11th centuries.  It was comprised of of important noblemen, including ealdormen, thegns, and bishops, and the meetings of the witan were sometimes called the 'witenagemot'.  

6 minutes ago, drpaladin said:

I asked Norman, but he just looked at me funny.

Really! I expect he would because like those Anglo Saxons and their pronunciation, he died nearly a thousand years ago.

And another word nerd comment. The end of witenagemot became our word  "moot" as in "that is a moot point" meaning debatable.

For the majority, who did not noticed it, no surprise. For those, who did note it, but didn't really care, again no great surprise. However for the few that saw it, wondered, then quickly forgot about it, life goes on. Admit it, now you are curious, what is , babbling about, finally lost it, time for a tranquilizer?

How about, if I mention that I live in the only province in Canada that has French as its' official language. As the lights all go on, Gotcha!   

The wording is not a, one for one translatable and it would most likely be genre, not sort, used.

mais qu'est-ce que c'est, ce genre de merde

(but what is this, this type of shit)

Here endeth the lesson,

(excuse my four letter word, but in my defense, @Myr used it first)

Extremely surprised that no one in this thread has mentioned that JK Rowling parodied the term for the Wizengamot.