Author Topic: Funny English and Linguistics stuff... (Read 204005 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #450 on:** January 30, 2012, 09:22:23 AM »

I was just coming here to post that.

pooka · « **Reply #451 on:** January 31, 2012, 08:10:54 AM »

"Tsunami" just means harbor wave...
:head asplode:

Porter · « **Reply #452 on:** January 31, 2012, 01:16:40 PM »

I think I have saudades for saudade.

Jonathon · « **Reply #453 on:** February 02, 2012, 01:33:29 PM »

pooka · « **Reply #454 on:** February 02, 2012, 09:05:20 PM »

Though if you think about it, Dinosaur comics is itself a form of elaborate pronunciation which makes every conversation AWESOME.

Jonathon · « **Reply #455 on:** February 03, 2012, 10:37:12 AM »

The return of Etymology Man!

rivka · « **Reply #456 on:** February 03, 2012, 11:06:47 AM »

And the one alluded to in the alt-text would be?

Jonathon · « **Reply #457 on:** February 03, 2012, 11:08:30 AM »

Etiology Man, apparently. I thought it only referred to the origin of diseases, but apparently "etiology" is also used to refer to origin or creation myths.

rivka · « **Reply #458 on:** February 03, 2012, 02:14:49 PM »

* rivka checks "learned something new" off daily list

BlackBlade · « **Reply #459 on:** February 06, 2012, 04:58:52 PM »

So.

Amoral (A-moral)
Asymetrical (A-symetrical)
Amateur (Am-mature)

Why not (A-mature)?

rivka · « **Reply #460 on:** February 06, 2012, 05:36:17 PM »

Probably because in the first two, the "a" is a negating prefix, while in the third, the source word is amator (I did not know that).

pooka · « **Reply #461 on:** February 06, 2012, 09:03:33 PM »

Yeah, in the first two the a is a prefix meaning "without, lacking". The third is from the word for love.

BlackBlade · « **Reply #462 on:** February 07, 2012, 04:32:06 PM »

Well blow me down. That's good to know.

The Genuine · « **Reply #463 on:** February 07, 2012, 04:43:54 PM »

Marianne Dashwood · « **Reply #464 on:** February 07, 2012, 04:44:13 PM »

I'm guessing your confusion might have come from the common pronunciation \ˈa-mə-chər\; it's originally \ˈa-mə-tər\.

Nighthawk · « **Reply #465 on:** February 15, 2012, 04:34:35 PM »

Just got this in a spam email:

Quote

This is DROPPING JAWS and taking peoples berths away.

Gosh... That sounds painful.

(If you're wondering, it's advertising an affiliate system of some sort. I didn't click the link.)

rivka · « **Reply #466 on:** February 16, 2012, 08:22:28 PM »

spacepook · « **Reply #467 on:** February 16, 2012, 08:24:49 PM »

How does that even- I can't-

Can someone explain to me how the kerning could get that messed up?

Jonathon · « **Reply #468 on:** February 16, 2012, 08:26:10 PM »

If the sign was made by hand, I guess.

It's not a very realistic representation of kerning problems, but I still laughed.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #469 on:** February 16, 2012, 09:04:24 PM »

I've told you all about that time Barbara Flick ran for school board, right?

Kerning gone horribly, tragically wrong.

Nighthawk · « **Reply #470 on:** February 17, 2012, 05:31:41 PM »

Quote from: Tante Shvester on February 16, 2012, 09:04:24 PM

I've told you all about that time Barbara Flick ran for school board, right?

Kerning gone horribly, tragically wrong.

Like here? ... You aren't kidding; the space between the "K" and the "S" is horrible!

Jonathon · « **Reply #471 on:** April 25, 2012, 06:33:13 PM »

Be sure to read the mouseover text.

rivka · « **Reply #472 on:** April 25, 2012, 07:03:22 PM »

I almost bought it.

Jonathon · « **Reply #473 on:** April 27, 2012, 12:45:32 PM »

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #474 on:** May 01, 2012, 03:56:12 PM »

Quote from: Bryan Garner

This blogger is well worth reading.

I have to agree.