Author Topic: Interesting language stuff (Read 25365 times)

Ela · « **Reply #75 on:** May 03, 2018, 03:20:27 PM »

No clue, but the Twitter debate sure is amusing.

The "h" can't mean honest. I'm rethinking my whole use of the abbreviation now, if someone is going to think I mean "honest" instead of "humble".

As many have pointed out, saying "in my honest opinion" isn't even a commonly used expression. What, I'm going to give you my dishonest opinion?

rivka · « **Reply #76 on:** May 03, 2018, 05:07:09 PM »

You're all wrong.

It is meant to mean both, and you get to guess which was intended in a specific case by context.

The ambiguity is deliberate.

Ela · « **Reply #77 on:** May 04, 2018, 08:03:17 AM »

Wrong, wrong, wrong. It means humble.

If it means both, I have to stop using it.

Jonathon · « **Reply #78 on:** May 04, 2018, 10:10:12 AM »

Ela · « **Reply #79 on:** May 04, 2018, 10:47:46 AM »

Love it!

Jonathon · « **Reply #80 on:** June 18, 2018, 08:48:00 AM »

Women's voices are deeper now than they were 50 years ago.

rivka · « **Reply #81 on:** June 18, 2018, 10:03:57 AM »

Fascinating!

Brinestone · « **Reply #82 on:** June 18, 2018, 01:34:26 PM »

Crazy! That's so cool!

Ela · « **Reply #83 on:** June 20, 2018, 10:25:44 AM »

Very interesting.

Ela · « **Reply #84 on:** September 04, 2018, 10:27:50 AM »

They can't really do this, can they? Aren't those words too common for a company to trademark them?

P&G Files to Trademark Some Millennial Phrases

rivka · « **Reply #85 on:** September 04, 2018, 11:05:48 AM »

Anyone can apply to trademark anything. (Just like anyone can sue anyone.)

Sadly, the trademark office is so overworked and underfunded they have been known to approve applications that perhaps should not have been. (See #cockygate.) However, in this case the company is only trying to trademark them in a very specific usage: "Non-medicated liquid soap; dishwashing detergents; hard surface cleaners; and air fresheners".

So not only might they be approved, we probably don't really care. Unless you were planning to market a new brand of soap or detergent.

See https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/omg-can-pg-literally-trademark-lol-wtf/

Jonathon · « **Reply #86 on:** September 04, 2018, 11:18:37 AM »

I am not a trademark lawyer, but I don't think there's anything with that. Companies trademark common words all the time, and it just means that no one else can sell that kind of product with that name, not that no one else can use that word.

Consider Tide, another P&G brand mentioned in the article. "Tide" is a common word, but P&G doesn't really own it—they just own the rights to use it for laundry detergent. I could start a company selling a completely unrelated product called Tide, and I think I would be legally in the clear (just so long as someone else didn't have a trademark in that area). So they can trademark WTF for a line of dish soap or whatever, and it just means that other companies can't ALSO sell a line of dish soap called WTF.

Edit: Cross-posted at the same time as Rivka.

Ela · « **Reply #87 on:** September 04, 2018, 02:57:41 PM »

Yeah, that all makes sense.

It's just that seeing the article give me a WTF moment. If you know what I mean.

Jonathon · « **Reply #88 on:** September 04, 2018, 03:01:45 PM »

Jonathon · « **Reply #89 on:** February 15, 2019, 08:37:45 AM »

Which part of the UK or Ireland are you from?

I got "Definitely not from around here are you? Your answers were closer to the average person outside of Ireland and Britain than anywhere inside it." My closest spots were London, Birmingham, and western and southwestern Ireland.

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #90 on:** February 15, 2019, 09:59:25 AM »

I, too, am not from around there. I had just about no overlap with Scotland in my answers, which may explain why I find Scottish so incomprehensible.

Ela · « **Reply #91 on:** February 18, 2019, 09:42:07 PM »

Quote from: Jonathon on February 15, 2019, 08:37:45 AM

Which part of the UK or Ireland are you from?

I got "Definitely not from around here are you? Your answers were closer to the average person outside of Ireland and Britain than anywhere inside it." My closest spots were London, Birmingham, and western and southwestern Ireland.

I came across this elsewhere and got the same as you. I didn't take close notice of my closest spots, but I remember they were mostly in a small part of southeast England.

Jonathon · « **Reply #92 on:** April 09, 2019, 10:03:27 AM »

This is a really cool way to visualize etymologies. The PIE root is in the middle, with derived forms in daughter languages fanning out from it.

(Though apparently the etymology of drake is disputed. The OED says that the notion that it comes from the root meaning 'king' is "absurd".)

link

rivka · « **Reply #93 on:** April 09, 2019, 10:20:27 AM »

Noemon · « **Reply #94 on:** June 19, 2019, 02:15:50 PM »

That is just *incredibly* cool.

Jonathon · « **Reply #95 on:** August 31, 2019, 05:53:55 PM »

I was quoted in a New York Times piece on Trump's sloppy language.

I tried to make the point that I don't think his writing will have any lasting effect on the language, but that I think his writing shows that there's no grown-up behind the wheel. And, of course, I find the things he says a lot more repellent than how he says them.

Ela · « **Reply #96 on:** August 31, 2019, 07:37:16 PM »

Quoted in the NY Times, eh. Now you've hit the big time.

rivka · « **Reply #97 on:** September 01, 2019, 05:29:11 PM »

Indeed. You're in some impressive company.

Jonathon · « **Reply #98 on:** September 01, 2019, 05:51:08 PM »

Thanks!

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #99 on:** September 01, 2019, 09:28:41 PM »

I saw the article on the front page of the Sunday Times.

(below the fold, alas. You were superceded by strife in Hong Kong.)