Category Archives: language

German-style adjectival phrases using Latin and English elements

Posted on Monday, 2003 July 07 by Anton

I wonder why on-the-job training, at-will employment, ex-parte application, in-vitro fertilization are more usual than the better English training on the job, employment at will, application ex parte, fertilization in vitro. I also wonder why children say me and him … Continue reading →

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limits of metaphor

Posted on Friday, 2003 June 06 by Anton

Ever notice that blunt is not always a synonym for pointless ?

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still looking for a set of Elvish filters

Posted on Monday, 2003 May 26 by Anton

Living languages are always changing; the most conspicuous way they change is in their sounds, and this change is generally regular — which is why it’s possible to imitate another dialect even if you’ve never heard the particular words spoken … Continue reading →

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semantic drift

Posted on Tuesday, 2003 May 20 by Anton

According to John Ross (author of Unintended Consequences), What Shakespeare’s character Dick the Butcher really said was “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the legislators.” That’s a bit different suggestion, isn’t it?

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an ancient visual pun

Posted on Tuesday, 2003 May 13 by Anton

Learn something every day. Philip Anderson writes in rec.heraldry: Maria is the Latinisation of Miriam, which means something like “drop of the ocean”. But the Latin translation of this, stilla maris, was confused with stella maris, i.e. “star of the … Continue reading →

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jIyajbe’

Posted on Monday, 2003 May 12 by Anton

from CNN: Hospital seeks Klingon speaker “There are some cases where we’ve had mental health patients where this was all they would speak,” said the county’s purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway. County officials said that obligates them to respond with a … Continue reading →

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mihi est igpe atinle

Posted on Tuesday, 2003 April 29 by Anton

The romanceconlang list (dedicated to the design of fictional descendants of Latin, spoken presumably by people of other timelines) has lately discussed expressions parallel to “It’s Greek to me” in other languages. So far: Danes: Hebrew, Volapük Italians: Turkish French: … Continue reading →

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