Recent Posts

91

English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert

« Last post by pooka on August 24, 2023, 12:00:53 AM »

m-w.com

92

English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert

« Last post by Ela on August 23, 2023, 05:07:26 AM »

m-w conjectures:

Spoiler: hiding my shame in using the literal dictionary (click to show/hide)

"In 16th-century France, vendre des canards à moitié was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," with the meaning of "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft."

Interesting, pooka. Which dictionary did you check?

93

English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert

« Last post by rivka on August 22, 2023, 10:41:40 PM »

It seems like possible mispronunciations would be the main appeal to school children.

Nah. It's just silly and fun, especially once you have a chain with lots of people. Like this!

94

English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert

« Last post by pooka on August 22, 2023, 10:31:32 PM »

I never heard of that one.  It seems like possible mispronunciations would be the main appeal to school children.  Does canard rhyme with anything potentially shocking in french?

95

English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert

« Last post by rivka on August 22, 2023, 10:00:28 PM »

Wanna buy a duck?

A what?

A duck!

Does it quack?

(If you have no idea what I am referring to, see this (among many others).)

96

English & Linguistics / Re: Word and phrase misuse

« Last post by rivka on August 22, 2023, 09:57:05 PM »

When most people describe tastes, they are definitely talking about something more elaborate than sweet/salty/bitter/sour/(umami). So if we are going by usage . . . .

97

English & Linguistics / Re: The random etymology of the day

« Last post by pooka on August 22, 2023, 09:55:42 PM »

Huh. I had no idea that orca was derived from orc.

Wow!

But why is the ear of corn called a cob?  Is it because it's cobbled?  (I fell into the cobbler discussion from many years ago on another thread).

98

English & Linguistics / Re: Wordle et al.

« Last post by pooka on August 22, 2023, 09:53:19 PM »

My games of choice these days are weekly squardle, and duotrigordle jumble.  Squardle doesn't have ads.  Daily squardle is 3x3 5 letter words, and weekly squardle is 5x5 5 letter words. 
duotrigordle jumble is fun to see if you can go through without any other strikes.  There is a perfect challenge duotrigordle, where your first word (if a cromulent 5 letter word) is all green.  I haven't gotten the hang of how to win that. 
The trouble is I was starting to waste a serious amount of time playing duotrigordle, since games generally take 10-15 minutes, so by the time I'd done the daily, the daily sequence, and the daily jumble, and a perfect challenge, I was on my phone using my fingers for an hour.  Sorry about that oxford comma.  I felt it was warranted by the number of words in each list item.

99

English & Linguistics / Re: Funny English and Linguistics stuff...

« Last post by pooka on August 22, 2023, 09:46:28 PM »

Catching up, on the alphabet:
I use the distribution of vowels to alphabetize things into 5 stacks, then those stacks can be broken into 5-7 stacks.  I'm glad I don't still work in jobs where I used this a lot.  In my very first couple jobs, I had an alphabetizing sleeve.  I would dream of having a rack, but those are quite fussy. 
I have a set of wordle tiles in my wallet for when I feel like I should be able to get a word on a 3rd guess but it's evading me.  They are sorted into vowel initial groups.  I haven't bothered using it since curation started. 

100

English & Linguistics / Re: Dear Expert

« Last post by pooka on August 22, 2023, 09:38:20 PM »

m-w conjectures:

Spoiler: hiding my shame in using the literal dictionary (click to show/hide)

"In 16th-century France, vendre des canards à moitié was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," with the meaning of "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft."