The Positive Lexicography Project
In case it helps…. https://www.drtimlomas.com/lexicography
Archive for Languages
On French
Tumblr user eevielearnsfrench asks for an explanation of French: https://olofahere.tumblr.com/post/175586618668/cheeseanonioncrisps-futurebartallen In another branch of the Tumblr thread, someone added “Gargling, but with air.” Reddit users respond and add suggestions. Examples: Eating your own tongue with a paired wine. (–popgruys) Like English but with three and a half fingers in your mouth at all times. (—sharrrp) […]
Mispronouncing mojibake and bakemoji
(I originally posted this as a comment on a Facebook thread of mine, but thought it was worth reposting as a Words & Stuff post.) The first time I saw the word mojibake, I didn’t recognize it as Japanese, so I pronounced it (to myself) as rhyming with cake.
Peeve: Labeling short bits of dialogue as perfectly fluent
I feel like I see this kind of thing a lot in sf stories. Made-up example: “Feh!” she said, in perfect unaccented fluent Old High Garzingian. I feel like a single interjection, or any other single word, or even a brief phrase, isn’t really enough of a sample for an observer to be able to […]
“Every Day, Another Language Dies”
I have a variety of concerns and dubiousnesses about Heather Altfeld’s essay “Every Day, Another Language Dies,” published at Lit Hub in May. (Originally published in Conjunctions 70, under the title “Obituary for Dead Languages.”) But I nonetheless found it a poetically lovely and sad eulogy for languages lost and languages we’re losing, so I […]
Learning Spanish terms via etymology and cognates
As I’ve been slowly learning Spanish via Duolingo, I’ve found the large number of cognates between Spanish and English very useful. Sometimes, false cognates get in the way; the most common example I see of that is the word embarazada, which English monoglots may assume means “embarrassed,” but which instead means “pregnant.” But setting aside […]
Alicia Vikander on Swedish slang
From Vanity Fair: “Alicia Vikander Teaches You Swedish Slang,” a 4-minute video. I initially assumed this was a straight-faced joke, with Vikander (the Swedish actress who’s playing Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider movie) making stuff up; but no, apparently these are real Swedish slang phrases. Though some commenters suggest that some of her […]
Plural-noun Holidays
Why do we have more days set aside to honor stuff than things?
“usted” and “Vd.”
Interesting article: “Understand Why [the Spanish pronoun] ‘Usted’ Is Sometimes Abbreviated ‘Vd.’” (Originally published in 2006.)
Swedish gender-neutral pronoun: hen
Article from 2012 about Sweden’s new gender-neutral pronoun.