Pages Tagged “Language”
Reviews
- The Great Typo Hunt
A cross-country road trip with a Sharpie pen, correcting grammatical and spelling errors in road and shop signs. I’ve mellowed on the subject since it came out, but it’s still interesting. - Interference
An intriguing followup to Semiosis that weaves several drastically different sentient species (both plant and animal) into a story about factions, community, freedom, communication and war. - Semiosis
A fascinating take on space colonization, intelligence, and language, following multiple generations of humans on a world dominated by sapient plants.
Les Misérables
- Argot, F-- Yourself I finally read the chapters the translator pulled out. Thieves' slang turned out to be less a topic and more of a lens to focus on the same themes as usual.
- Slang, Theme and Digressions: Getting the Point Across Whether it's new perspective or just the different translation, I'm appreciating the chapter on argot this time. The plot stops, but the theme keeps building.
Blog Posts
- Cis is Just A Description
Imagine a small village near a valley, so isolated that they just call themselves “the people.” One day they find out about another village on the other side of the valley, and they start calling them “the people across the valley.” They can keep talking about “the people,” but sometimes they need to make a […]
- Need to Find a Safe Point
Interesting vocab mixup with the 7YO last night: He agreed to stop a game at “the first save point” and get ready for bed. When he didn’t, he said he hadn’t gotten to a “safe point” yet. It turned out he didn’t understand what a save point was, because all the games he’s played up […]
- GIF? Gee….
I need to generate a GIF of Gillian and George the Giant Giraffes gingerly eating ginseng gelato on a gyroscope while drinking gin.
- I “Liked” Twitter Favorites
It shouldnââ¬â¢t make any difference that Twitter renamed FavoritesâË⦠as Likesââ¢Â¥. Itââ¬â¢s a coat of paint. But labels do matter.
- Toddler Vocabulary: Riddle Me This
Trying to figure out what an infant wants is like 20 questions. When they start talking, it becomes a riddle game.
- I’m Weary of This: Seven Things that Just Bug Me
Some things that Just Bug Me, including language misuse (weary, intensive purposes, full proof) and tech annoyances.
- A Radical Notion
I’ve accepted, even embraced the return of “awesome” over the last few years. But I’m seeing signs that “rad” is making a comeback, and I really hope it isn’t.
- For All Purposes In Tents
What do people think an “intensive purpose” is? “For all intents and purposes” may be redundant, but it actually makes sense.
- Links! Alarms, Ghosts of History, Firefly Trek, WW2 Star Wars & More
Hazards of too many alarms; Merging historical and modern photos; Computer lightning safety; Allergies, Star Wars as World War II; Firefly as Star Trek, SMBC’s Logogeneplex.
- Explicitly Tainted Tracks
It’s silly to mark a song as having explicit lyrics only because another song on the same album does – especially since the song, not the album, is now the base unit of music.
- Links: Identity, Kindle, Language, and the Moon
Linkblogging: Privacy in terms of identity. The new Kindle. The future of old-timey language. Geek Merit Badges. The Moon Hoax debunked as a comic.
- Links: Yen Droid Mobile Woot Quake!
I’ve always wondered how the name of Japan’s currency ended up meaning “craving” or desire in English. It turns out to be coincidence, probably from the Chinese yáhn or yin, “craving.” Word of the Day: yen. TweetUp acquires Twidroid and changes its name to Twidroyd “to ensure minimal confusion with products from Lucas Films.” Fortunately […]
- Tile Will Call
On odd (to me) sign led me to discover the origin of the term “will call” – and that it is used outside of a theater context.
- What the Heck is a “Pilule?”
Spammers have been using misspellings, synonyms and malapropisms for years now. Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of Viagra/Cialis/etc. spam using the word “pilule” instead of “pill.” At first they’d just find misspellings for the drug name, but I guess some filters are blocking or scoring on “pill,” so they’ve substituted words for that…including the […]
- Hero, Headlines & Spam
Just learned “Holding Out for a Hero” is cowritten by Jim Steinman. Explains why it keeps turning into “Good Girls Go to Heaven” in my head Writing for Twitter Spam vs SPAM. I suspect it’s way too late to close the barn door on this one. Kinda like “hacker.”
- Friends or Followers: Social Networking Terminology from LiveJournal to Facebook to Twitter
Since LiveJournal’s debut, social networks have expanded the meaning of ‘friend.’ What does it imply to have friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter?
- Chatspeak IRL
Went to the comic store on a late lunch today. As I got in the car, I saw the clerk locking the door. At 2:00, it seemed a bit early for closing, but then I noticed he had just hung up a sign that said: AFK BRB A bit cryptic to the uninitiated*, but probably […]
- Spam from the Third Age
I’ve held off on posting funny spam subject lines lately, but I just had to comment on this pair. First up: Mazrim Taim was one of those, raising an army and ravaging Saldaea before he was taken. It’s a quote from Lord of Chaos, the 6th book in Robert Jordan’s fantasy series, The Wheel of […]
- Inadvertent Language
This morning’s Los Angeles Times article, “A %$#@ slippery slope on raw talk?”, discusses the recent court ruling that relaxed FCC restrictions on inadvertent swearing. On one side, watchdog groups (and the FCC) are complaining that this could lead to swearing and nudity throughout prime time. (Won’t someone think of the children?) On the other […]
- The Origin of “Nukular”
After a great deal of painstaking research[1], I have uncovered the true[2] origins of the “nucular” pronunciation of the word nuclear. Nukular turns out to be an abbreviation of “Nuke-you-la’r,” a traditional Texan leave-taking[3]. The phrase is a contraction of “Nuke you later,” and refers to the intense heat of a Texas barbecue grill. Essentially, […]
- Convicted…huh?
I was listening to the news this morning, and I caught a reference to “Convicted Lobbyist Jack Abramoff.” It occurred to me that the phrasing is a bit odd. It makes it sound like he was convicted of being a lobbyist, which, last I heard, was still legal. I suppose “Convicted corrupt lobbyist” sounds too […]
- ¿Cómo se dice, «duh»?
NPR’s “Morning Edition” ran a story today on the rise of the Spanish-language television market, and Univision in particular. They led into it with a remark that Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup has been getting higher ratings than the English-language coverage. This should surprise no one, given that soccer (as we norteamericanos call what […]
- Acronym Overload: is that D&D or D&D?
On Friday I received an email about the “IEEE GLOBECOM 2006 D&D FORUM.” My first thought on seeing the subject was, “Well, it’s clearly not Dungeons and Dragons.” So I thought about other D&Ds, and the next thing I thought of was drag and drop. I knew that couldn’t be it, either. Who would hold […]
- Triple-Dub
WWW, while convenient to type, is rather unwieldy when spoken (at least in English). “Double-U double-U double-U dot some site dot com” takes a while to say. It’s not like, say, AAA, which can be easily spoken as “Triple-A.” Fortunately, these days most major sites have their servers configured to return the same web with […]
- Paying the Piper
Yesterday, Mark Evanier quoted Justice Antonin Scalia using an aphorism in a debate on government funding of the arts. The phrase he used: “He who pays the piper calls the tune.” It’s a reminder that the person who funds something invariably has a say in just what they’ve funded. (In this case, he pointed out […]
- Kids’ language and the media
KCRW ran a story on the indecency wars this morning, and quoted someone who was concerned that kids are picking up bad language from broadcast media. Yeah, right. Broadcast media is so locked down they can’t find that kind of language there. When I was in middle school, I spent a week working at a […]
- Top Three Hawaiian Words
When we visited Oahu two years ago, we noticed that aloha was everywhere, and meant everything. Aside from hello and goodbye, it seemed to represent an easy-going, positive attitude. There were signs all over the place saying things like “Drive with aloha.” Then there was mahalo, Hawaiian for “thank you,” which is used everywhere in […]
- Effective Oxymorons
On the way to work this morning, Katie noticed one of those ubiquitous catering trucks and remarked, “With a name like ‘Superior Coffee,’ you know it probably isn’t.” It’s a useful guideline: if a company has to tell you something is gourmet, for instance, that means it can’t count on its reputation alone. That reminded […]
- Do You Speak American?
Via WebWord: Do You Speak American? is an upcoming documentary about the many dialects that make up American English. Some interesting observations include: Major cities’ dialects are actually diverging, not converging as people predicted with the spread of TV and travel. Another “great vowel shift” is underway in the Great Lakes region. Most Americans consider […]
- Software: Not Just Free as in Lunch
People often get confused by the term “free software.” Traditionally the comparison made is speech vs. beer, but free speech brings its own connotations.
- Nature’s Semantics
You can argue that vegan or vegetarian substitutes for meat and dairy are more ethical or healthier. But please don’t claim that they’re more natural.