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English & Linguistics / Re: I hate journalistic writing
« on: February 06, 2015, 09:26:39 PM »
I cannot even figure out what it might mean with just that to go on.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert
« on: November 11, 2014, 11:40:30 AM »I was listening to something this morning on Morning Edition in which the person being interviewed was talking about the centrality of bread in human culture, and the way all sorts of words are entwined with bread. He gave the example of "companion" literally being someone you had bread with. He said in the piece that he had literally written the book on the subject, but I can't remember his name or the name of the book, and I'm not finding any references to the piece when I look on the Morning Edition website. Are you by any chance familiar with it?
I don't want to be that guy, but bread is definitely not a central component of Asian culture.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert
« on: November 07, 2014, 08:40:19 PM »
Would beddy-bye as in, "Time for beddy-bye" be an example of babies influencing language?
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: October 16, 2014, 02:05:03 PM »
Some of us still can't figure it out.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: October 16, 2014, 11:30:29 AM »I wonder if anyone's ever made a misharmonic orchestra.Or a malharmonic one.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: October 16, 2014, 11:15:19 AM »
Seemingly obvious in retrospect, the "phil-" in "philharmonic" is from the Greek "philos" or to love. So philharmonic simply means to love music.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: October 12, 2014, 02:00:59 PM »I'd want someone who was richer, not broker.If he was richer he wouldn't be too sweet on making you money.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: October 12, 2014, 09:01:16 AM »Broker is a funny name for someone who helps you with your investments.I wonder if it has to do with the word "brook" as in, "I will brook no protest."
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English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day
« on: October 07, 2014, 10:28:31 AM »
So I wondered how "commute" had come to mean, reducing a ruling or decision, and also to travel to-and-fro on a regular basis.
Link. I enjoy trying to sort out in my head how it might have happened before looking it up. In this instance I had no clue, but after reading the explanation that seems so organic.
Link. I enjoy trying to sort out in my head how it might have happened before looking it up. In this instance I had no clue, but after reading the explanation that seems so organic.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Quotes from work
« on: September 17, 2014, 11:36:31 PM »
Falun Gong members light themselves on fire and believe their leader can fly. They also infiltrated disturbingly high echelons of the Communist Party apparatus before they were really noticed. Let's hope Soka Gakkai and Falun Gong never have a baby.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Quotes from work
« on: September 17, 2014, 04:31:22 PM »
Your experiences with them sounds exactly like Falun Gong members in Taiwan.
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English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day
« on: September 11, 2014, 05:11:54 PM »
Smithereens as in, "I'll blow your car into smithereens!" comes from Irish apparently.
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English & Linguistics / Re: I hate journalistic writing
« on: September 10, 2014, 04:41:11 PM »
Seriously.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Interesting language stuff
« on: September 09, 2014, 08:26:11 AM »
I have heard a lot of accents but there were enough questions where I couldn't say I had heard that accent before (Senegal, Afghanistan) that I just gave up without completing it.
Discerning between Netherlands and Germany proved tricky for me.
Discerning between Netherlands and Germany proved tricky for me.
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English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day
« on: August 27, 2014, 12:03:27 PM »
What about cheque?
edit: Yep, even cheque.
edit: Yep, even cheque.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: August 25, 2014, 09:16:26 AM »
So is it ever used, where the person being asked, "If it's all the same to you" is actually being asked if it's all the same to them?
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English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert
« on: August 23, 2014, 04:52:38 PM »
I am not an ESL teacher of course, and I really hope Annie has more to say.
My advice would be tutoring in the evenings. Taking reports, marking where those mistakes are, but not saying what the fix is, and seeing what she can figure out. Then where she is stuck, explain to her why "a" or "the" doesn't work there. She might also consider using a previously corrected report as a template when she writes up new ones. She also might consider a service like Live Mocha
Link.
You correct other people's language assignments or give them practice time (In her case she would help somebody with Chinese) and in turn somebody who speaks English would help her with her reports or other kinds of writing. Honestly I have seen so many Chinese people have this problem, but with time and concerted effort, it goes away. It really does. I have seen people who could barely form a sentence go on to be very eloquent purely by practicing in their spare time with native speakers.
My advice would be tutoring in the evenings. Taking reports, marking where those mistakes are, but not saying what the fix is, and seeing what she can figure out. Then where she is stuck, explain to her why "a" or "the" doesn't work there. She might also consider using a previously corrected report as a template when she writes up new ones. She also might consider a service like Live Mocha
Link.
You correct other people's language assignments or give them practice time (In her case she would help somebody with Chinese) and in turn somebody who speaks English would help her with her reports or other kinds of writing. Honestly I have seen so many Chinese people have this problem, but with time and concerted effort, it goes away. It really does. I have seen people who could barely form a sentence go on to be very eloquent purely by practicing in their spare time with native speakers.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert
« on: August 23, 2014, 12:49:51 PM »
Bob: To be perfectly honest those very things are what 95% of Chinese people learning English struggle with particularly because Chinese doesn't contain tenses or a/an/the equivalents. It's simply a part of English everybody learns through struggling with the language and accept correction every time it comes up.
One quick short cut for a/an is if the word afterward starts with a vowel (though the rule is actually a vowel sound) you use "an", otherwise "a". As for a/the I guess the best thing I can think of is we use, "a" to reference one of something. If the "one of something" we are discussing is unique from others in some way we start referring to it as "the something".
I wish I could be more help, but honestly in my own experience helping Chinese people leap these hurdles it just comes down to them hearing and using them correctly over and over and over and eventually habits form.
One quick short cut for a/an is if the word afterward starts with a vowel (though the rule is actually a vowel sound) you use "an", otherwise "a". As for a/the I guess the best thing I can think of is we use, "a" to reference one of something. If the "one of something" we are discussing is unique from others in some way we start referring to it as "the something".
I wish I could be more help, but honestly in my own experience helping Chinese people leap these hurdles it just comes down to them hearing and using them correctly over and over and over and eventually habits form.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: August 23, 2014, 12:16:55 PM »
I'm not trying to invalidate it, I'm honestly asking if it's used in a non-assertive way.
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: August 22, 2014, 04:17:21 PM »
The problem is the phrase is often used to assert that a person should stop having a disparate value on all the options. Like a detective walking in to a room and a person asking, "Who are you?"
"If it's all the same to you, I'll be asking the questions here."
Or if you're on a walk and suddenly a person walking with you doesn't feel well,
"If it's all the same to you, I'll just sit down here for a minute."
Is it used in such a way that a person *isn't* asserting a position and asking you to be OK with it?
"If it's all the same to you, I'll be asking the questions here."
Or if you're on a walk and suddenly a person walking with you doesn't feel well,
"If it's all the same to you, I'll just sit down here for a minute."
Is it used in such a way that a person *isn't* asserting a position and asking you to be OK with it?
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: August 22, 2014, 08:48:24 AM »
Take the phrase, "If it's all the same to you." How would you explain that phrase to somebody learning English? Paying particular attention to how the meaning is derived from the specific words used.
I'm kinda failing at it.
I'm kinda failing at it.
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English & Linguistics / Re: I hate journalistic writing
« on: July 25, 2014, 07:29:08 PM »
Holy crap I about had a heart attack until I read the thread title and then reread the headline! 
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English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...
« on: July 09, 2014, 01:06:49 AM »
Jonathon: You might as well add to your knowledge base by learning the CIA's Style Manual.
Link to actual guide.
Link to actual guide.