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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: December 09, 2025, 09:14:18 AM »
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English & Linguistics / Re: I hate journalistic writing
« on: September 26, 2025, 08:49:08 AM »Quote
Trump has unveiled a number of moves aimed at cutting drug prices in recent months, but he has yet to move the needle on reducing costs – much less slashing them by 1,500%, which is mathematically impossible, experts say.
"experts say"
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English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day
« on: September 09, 2025, 10:39:40 AM »
Huh. I'd never thought about its etymology before.
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compound bone at the base of the spine, 1753, from Late Latin os sacrum "sacred bone," from Latin sacrum, neuter of sacer "sacred" (see sacred). Said to be so called because the bone was the part of animals that was offered in sacrifices. The Late Latin phrase is a translation of Greek hieron osteon. Greek hieros also can mean "strong" (see ire), and some sources suggest the Latin is a mistranslation of Galen, who was calling it "the strong bone."
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: August 12, 2025, 12:14:09 PM »
Mouseover text: "Achilles was a mighty warrior, but his Achilles' heel was his heel."
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English & Linguistics / Re: I hate journalistic writing
« on: August 11, 2025, 12:48:05 PM »
""Ford hits the pedal on EV production with $2 billion overhaul of Kentucky plant"
Which pedal, though? Most cars have at least two, and they have very different functions.
Which pedal, though? Most cars have at least two, and they have very different functions.
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English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day
« on: June 17, 2025, 11:09:37 AM »
Side note: I love that that's the name of the species. 
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English & Linguistics / Re: Strange Proununciations
« on: May 26, 2025, 09:19:19 AM »
It's a pretty common nonstandard pronunciation, along with "asteriks".
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: January 13, 2025, 08:36:01 AM »
*nods vigorously*
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English & Linguistics / Re: Strange Proununciations
« on: January 07, 2025, 01:59:52 PM »
Merriam-Webster does list is as the second pronunciation, but it does make me wonder if the speaker has studied français.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Strange Proununciations
« on: January 06, 2025, 08:20:20 AM »
Huh. I've never heard that before either.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: October 08, 2024, 05:55:57 PM »
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English & Linguistics / Re: English-to-English translation
« on: October 05, 2024, 09:13:59 AM »
We just started watching an Australian show too, and we learned "esky" as a generic term for a portable cooler.
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English & Linguistics / Re: English-to-English translation
« on: September 21, 2024, 10:14:37 AM »
I also knew arvo, root, and combi, but the rest were new to me.
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English & Linguistics / Re: English-to-English translation
« on: September 20, 2024, 07:57:56 AM »
I thought a ute was just a truck based on a passenger car chassis, like an El Camino, but Wikipedia says the term expanded at some point.
"You've got tickets on yourself" is pretty great.
"You've got tickets on yourself" is pretty great.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Strange Proununciations
« on: August 19, 2024, 07:42:34 PM »
No problem! I didn't even realize before now that there was variation in how some people said it or that my pronunciation didn't match the standard dictionary pronunciation.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Strange Proununciations
« on: August 19, 2024, 08:48:44 AM »
It doesn't strike me as the kind of variation that's typically regional. And if it were regional, there's a fair chance it'd be in listed in the dictionary. I think it's more likely just an idiosyncratic thing, but I'm really not sure.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Strange Proununciations
« on: August 18, 2024, 01:08:40 PM »
Merriam-Webster says "län-ˈje-və-tē" (so a regular "n" sound followed by a soft "g"), but I guess I pronounce it like "long-gevity" (with an "ng" sound followed by a soft "g"). I'm not really pronouncing the "g" twice, because there isn't actually a "g" in the "ng" sound—it's just a nasal sound pronounced in the same place as a hard "g". But it makes sense why someone would think of that as pronouncing the "g" twice, since most people think of pronunciation in terms of spelling (which is why people also talk about "'g' dropping" in words like "singin'").
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English & Linguistics / Re: New column-type thingy
« on: June 18, 2024, 12:18:11 PM »
This actually happened at my last job (so at least four years ago now, since it was in the pre-pandemic days). I started drafting this a few years ago, but I abandoned it because I didn't want to get in trouble if my boss saw it. But I haven't worked at that job in almost two and a half years now, so I finally pulled it out of my drafts, finished it up, and posted it.
But yeah, we had one especially fractious discussion that inspired this post (though many other discussions were at least a little frustrating or contentious). Many of the lines are direct or near-direct quotes. And I'm probably safe pointing out here that the coworker in question was literally named Karen.
But yeah, we had one especially fractious discussion that inspired this post (though many other discussions were at least a little frustrating or contentious). Many of the lines are direct or near-direct quotes. And I'm probably safe pointing out here that the coworker in question was literally named Karen.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: June 07, 2024, 12:23:50 PM »
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English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day
« on: June 03, 2024, 04:08:38 PM »
I don't think I've encountered "narc" to mean "narcissist".