Category Archives: language

Hortensii present and past

Posted on Saturday, 2002 November 16 by Anton

A few months ago in alt.fan.miss-manners someone confessed ignorance that Hortense is feminine. That sent me to the books to learn its etymology. From E.G.Withycombe, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, I learn that the Hortensii were a Roman … Continue reading →

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did the wabbit ever learn what updock is?

Posted on Friday, 2002 November 15 by Anton

I am advised by World Wide Words that Oxford University Press have just published a Dictionary of Catchphrases. Joy at the availability of a reference that could soothe many a mental itch is diluted by a touch of “Is nothing … Continue reading →

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spot the language

Posted on Thursday, 2002 November 14 by Anton

Someone wrote to my favorite list, I received this spam today. Does anyone know what language it is? (And is there a tool, pref. on the web and free, that can take a piece of text and guess what language … Continue reading →

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a name

Posted on Friday, 2002 October 11 by Anton

I was thinking about English spellings of Indian names when this hit me: Does Chatterjee mean something like quadruply honored ?

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words on planets

Posted on Wednesday, 2002 October 09 by Anton

I did not know that Astronomy Picture of the Day is mirrored in multiple languages. (That list misses at least one: romanised Russian.) I stumbled onto the mirrors while seeking the origin of the name of a feature on Venus. … Continue reading →

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bestial noises

Posted on Friday, 2002 October 04 by Anton

A while ago I used the phrase “. . . Senator Feinstein would screech . . .”. It now occurs to me that if the senior Big Gummint Democratic Senator from California were a he I’d probably have used the word “howl”. I guess … Continue reading →

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and a pony

Posted on Tuesday, 2002 September 10 by Anton

Just think: after tomorrow we may never hear that hideous pleonasm “one year anniversary” ever again. I can dream, can’t I?

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