Category Archives: language

lexicon lust

Posted on Sunday, 2002 April 21 by Anton

Saturday at Moe’s I found a recent reprint of the great Monier-Williams dictionary of Sanskrit (1899) for $35, about a quarter of what I had expected to pay someday for it. Whee. I find, by the way, that Indian printing … Continue reading →

Posted in California, language, me!me!me! | 1 Comment

ungrammatical boys, ungrammatical boys, whatcha gonna do?

Posted on Sunday, 2002 March 31 by Anton

Okay, the Grammar Police gag has been done before, if not quite so stylishly. I don’t mind an excuse to plug my favorite college strip.

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generic carnivory

Posted on Friday, 2002 March 29 by Anton

The oddest things sometimes bug me. Does anyone else remember a children’s book which mentions eating “roast beast”? Update. One reader (see, this is how I smoke you out) points it out in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I feel … Continue reading →

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forsooth thy knockers be bounteous

Posted on Tuesday, 2002 March 26 by Anton

a chuckle from John and Antonio: We once knew a woman who got a job translating three porn flicks from Italian to Spanish. Why did they bother, you ask. Because they were done in (well, mostly out of) Renaissance dress … Continue reading →

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Anton ‘Mr.’ Sherwood wants to know

Posted on Sunday, 2002 March 24 by Anton

How old is the convention of writing nicknames as middle names, e.g. (taking a handy fictional example) “Tim ‘Curly’ Beamish”? Why do you see even “Tim ‘Curly Tim’ Beamish” (gordelpus) rather than “‘Curly’ Tim Beamish”? What is the convention (if … Continue reading →

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neologism

Posted on Tuesday, 2002 March 19 by Anton

Did I really write “satiral” yesterday? Funny. Wonder why that isn’t a proper word, anyway.

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there can be only one

Posted on Sunday, 2002 March 10 by Anton

What is the Latin plural of Elvis? I’ve just seen Elvii, which is clearly wrong (the singular would then be Elvius). The most obvious candidate is Elves, but of course one cannot count on one’s readers to pronounce it with … Continue reading →

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