Owner: A Walk in the Words URL:http://www.walkinthewords.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:01:03 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Humorous and informative look at the sounds, words and meanings of the English language. Site statistics:Click here
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes (and Linguists) 2008-12-12 05:56:00 Don't Sleep
, There are Snakes
: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle" is a new book written by Daniel L. Everett, a linguist and missionary. I wanted to mention the book because it is not everyday that a (non-textbook) book pertaining to linguistics is published. The book is a non-fiction account of the author's time spent in Brazil studying the language of the Piraha tribe. I am very much loo
Clarification on Acronym vs. Initialism Post 2008-12-11 15:25:00 I want to call your attention to the comments (thank you readers) on today's post about acronyms and initialisms. I have added another comment that might help make the post a bit clearer, or it might not. Read more:Clarification
"A" and "An" with Acronyms and Initialisms 2008-12-11 05:38:00 There was an article a week or so ago in the Detroit Free Press that mentioned something about "an NWA employee." As I was reading the article, I read "NWA" to myself as "Northwest Airlines" (out of habit), thus the preceding "an" sounded incorrect. Remember the rule - always use "a" before a word that begins with a consonant sound and "an" before a word that begins with a vowel sound. This got me
Thoughts on Text Message Communication 2008-12-10 05:31:00 In response to the comment sent in by reader Emily Ryall regarding text message communication:Pragmatically, text messages are not incomplete conversations. Emily's suggestion that there is "a tacit acknowledgement that the sender doesn't really expect a response (to every message)" is right on. Text messaging should be thought of as its own context and different contexts have different norms. The Read more:Message
, Text Message
Chinese Language Lessons From a Fortune Cookie??? 2008-12-10 05:21:00 I have just started to notice fortune cookies that provide not only a fortune, but a lesson in Chinese
as well. While this seems like a great idea, I would take it with a grain of rice. Many English words have two or more different Chinese equivalents and according to Ken Liu's Simplicitas, English words found in the fortune cookie lessons are often translated with the characters of one Chinese wo Read more:Cookie
, Fortune
, Lessons
Nancy Pelosi's Barbershop 2008-12-09 07:06:00 House Speaker NancyPelosi
compared the current proposal for an automotive industry bailout to a "barbershop" because everyone would be "getting a haircut in terms of the conditions." Could the term "Barbershop Bailout" be in the headlines soon?The use of the word barbershop with this sense of meaning actually has great potential; it could be applied to anything that is going to be trimmed metapho Read more:Nancy Pelosi
Poor Semantic Word Choice in People Magazine 2008-12-08 05:31:00 The December 8th issue of People magazine included the following:I have to say that I have a problem with the choice of one particular word in the first sentence. "Three months after her split with Michael Bolton, Nicolette Sheridan cozied up to another familiar face, David Spade, 44."If you haven't guessed already, the word that bothers me is with. As far as I am concerned, when you split with s Read more:Choice
, Magazine
, People Magazine
, Semantic
The Language of Teasing 2008-12-06 09:37:00 For those of you who may have missed the linguistics current events on this page, here is a link to a wonderful New York Times article called In Defense of Teasing
.
Humorous Idioms 2008-12-06 08:16:00 I am privileged that one of my dearest friends often shares the memories she has of her father's creative use of language. She just remembered another beauty that is along the lines of the idiom, "When pigs fly." Following is part of an email she sent me:"One (of the lines) he used to say when there was 'no way' he was going to do something was, 'Monkeys will emerge from my rectum.' It was hysteri Read more:Idioms
Scooby Doo's Wordplay 2008-12-06 06:16:00 Having grown up with Scooby
Doo as a Saturday morning staple, I absolutely love this bumper sticker and its homophonic wordplay.
Media is Tagging Graffiti 2008-12-05 06:09:00 In the Free Dictionary's definition of the word tagging, the first sense listed is that of: "labeling, identifying, or recognizing with, or as if with, a tag." It isn't until you continue down the list to number eight that the sense of tagging as: "marking or vandalizing (a surface) with graffiti is listed."It is fairly well known in inner cities that marking a surface with graffiti is a way for g Read more:Graffiti
, Tagging
Britney Spears Anagrams 2008-12-04 05:44:00 It seems fitting to post about BritneySpears
today because Yahoo.com just announced that she was the number one most searched-for person in 2008.A fellow linguist and blogger, The Virtual Linguist, recently emailed me a link to a BBC television program about solving cryptic crosswords. Unfortunately, I was not able to view the program here in the U.S. Thankfully though, my new email pal sent me a Read more:Anagrams
, Britney Spears
O-phoria - A New Word for a New President 2008-12-03 05:29:00 The ubiquitous coverage of Barack Obama's election (including insta-books, quickie documentaries, magazine covers and more) has been dubbed O-phoria by The New York Times columnist, David Brooks. To be sure, many people are euphoric; however, when I look at the word in print I automatically think Oprah. Read more:President
What is Semiotics? 2008-12-02 06:18:00 In yesterday's post about the name of T-Pain's album (THR33 RINGZ), I referred to the use of the "3's" for the "E's" as semiotic. Because semiotics is not a widely known area of linguistics, I thought I should explain a bit more. Semiotics is the scientific study of signs and their linguistic meaning. It is about the relationship between a sign and what it represents. It is about how people determ
Read Kiddo Read 2008-11-27 05:47:00 One of the many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving is the love of reading that my parents instilled in me at a young age. It is this love of reading that fostered my love of words and language which, in turn, brought about my passion for studying the science of language.Please help instill the love of reading in your child. Check out this new website for parents, teachers and librarians
Feed Hungry Dogs 2008-11-25 07:44:00 Please check out the website freekibble.com (I have also added a permanent link below right). It is a website started by a 12-year-old girl that provides a daily trivia question and helps to feed hungry dogs.Also, don't forget to help feed hungry people by playing the Free Rice vocabulary trivia game. Read more:Hungry
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