Author Topic: Funny English and Linguistics stuff... (Read 217475 times)

rivka · « **Reply #1150 on:** May 06, 2016, 10:05:23 AM »

*facepalm*

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1151 on:** May 13, 2016, 01:18:08 PM »

Things that are spoiled are not fresh and things that are fresh are not spoiled, except for those children bothering me in the waiting room.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1152 on:** June 22, 2016, 10:04:59 AM »

It's worth noting that the mouseover text isn't really accurate, or at the very least it's misleading. It's true that lexical words in English have to consist of at least one heavy syllable, meaning that they need either a short vowel followed by a consonant or a diphthong or long vowel, but that constraint doesn't apply to function words and interjections. The articles the and a both end in a lax vowel, as does the reduced pronoun ya, and so do many interjections, including huh and yeah. So meh is not phonologically unusual at all.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1153 on:** July 07, 2016, 08:39:15 AM »

A Latin joke sentence that's almost impossible to read in Gothic script.

By the way, this is why words like love and come and some are written with an o rather than a u and why women and woman are spelled so unphonetically. If they were written with i's and u's in this script, they'd be much harder to read because it's hard to distinguish u, i, n, and m.

rivka · « **Reply #1154 on:** July 07, 2016, 08:54:49 AM »

Jonathon · « **Reply #1155 on:** July 07, 2016, 09:51:51 AM »

It's also why people started adding dots over i and j, by the way.

rivka · « **Reply #1156 on:** July 07, 2016, 10:19:48 AM »

Yeah, those would help quite a bit.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1157 on:** July 07, 2016, 12:04:43 PM »

I'm going to make that my default font for all my memos at work.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1158 on:** August 01, 2016, 08:59:29 AM »

For those who don't speak French, it says "polish [the verb] the sausage".

Edited for clarity.

rivka · « **Reply #1159 on:** August 01, 2016, 09:23:44 AM »

Like the verb to make shiny?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1160 on:** August 01, 2016, 09:52:54 AM »

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #1161 on:** August 01, 2016, 10:25:03 AM »

Sounds like a kind of adolescent euphemism.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1162 on:** August 01, 2016, 10:39:14 AM »

rivka · « **Reply #1163 on:** August 01, 2016, 10:44:23 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on August 01, 2016, 10:39:14 AM

Seconded.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1164 on:** August 03, 2016, 01:00:12 PM »

Quote

ME: It's 'whoa,' not 'woah.' It's not like 'yeah.' THE INTERNET: I don't know how to spell 'yeah' either.
source

rivka · « **Reply #1165 on:** August 03, 2016, 04:00:08 PM »

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/13687424-distributed-proofreading#comment_154967082

(For the record, her response made me say

.)

Jonathon · « **Reply #1166 on:** August 03, 2016, 04:10:39 PM »

Um . . . no.

Now I'm debating whether I should respond.

Jonathon · « **Reply #1167 on:** August 03, 2016, 04:11:51 PM »

On a different note:

rivka · « **Reply #1168 on:** August 03, 2016, 05:15:54 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on August 03, 2016, 04:10:39 PM

Now I'm debating whether I should respond.

Having had the same debate, and decided not to for reasons that don't apply to you, I support your doing so.

Porter · « **Reply #1169 on:** August 04, 2016, 09:38:37 AM »

Rivka, did you read Gentlman Jole and the Red Queen? What did you think?

rivka · « **Reply #1170 on:** August 04, 2016, 09:56:51 AM »

I have not. The current used prices are still ridiculous. And the reviews are not making me feel any need to rush either.

Porter · « **Reply #1171 on:** August 06, 2016, 10:57:19 AM »

I have read it.

I can confirm that there is no need for you to rush out and do so.

rivka · « **Reply #1172 on:** August 07, 2016, 07:17:06 PM »

Thanks.

Ela · « **Reply #1173 on:** August 28, 2016, 02:01:22 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on June 22, 2016, 10:04:59 AM

It's worth noting that the mouseover text isn't really accurate, or at the very least it's misleading. It's true that lexical words in English have to consist of at least one heavy syllable, meaning that they need either a short vowel followed by a consonant or a diphthong or long vowel, but that constraint doesn't apply to function words and interjections. The articles the and a both end in a lax vowel, as does the reduced pronoun ya, and so do many interjections, including huh and yeah. So meh is not phonologically unusual at all.

I'm glad you explained that cause I was reading the mouseover text over and over trying to figure out what exactly he was saying.

Farmgirl · « **Reply #1174 on:** September 04, 2016, 06:28:39 PM »

The WonderMark that Jonathon posted is so confusing, that I am never going to use "Begging the Question" ever again; because I have absolutely no idea now of what is right and wrong. (However, I don't think I really ever use that idiom anyway)