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Meta
Category Archives: language
para-grammatogenesis
Some people amuse themselves at inventing languages and scripts; that sport’s most famous player was of course Tolkien. And some avidly study whatever notes Tolkien left concerning his Elvish language family. Tolkien invented at least three scripts: Sarati, an alphasyllabary; … Continue reading
Posted in fandom, language
3 Comments
a gap in the library
Latin ecce, Italian ecco, Russian vot, French voilà, Esperanto jen — the nearest English equivalent I can think of is lo!, which is not in most bilingual dictionaries, for the same reason English-speakers know the word voilà. So how do … Continue reading
Posted in language
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Why can’t the English learn to speak?
Got an idea just now that might sell a few copies: Monty Python Annotated for Americans, containing answers to such questions as “What dialect is Palin doing in this bit?” This thought was prompted by watching My Fair Lady. In … Continue reading
Posted in cinema, language
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linky goodness
Adventures of Mr Coo, a wacky bit of Flash animation from Basque-land. (Cited by JoAnne Schmitz.) At Languagehat, some interesting brief remarks on the Belgian aristocracy’s efforts to seem less alien to Flanders. Warren Meyer on why libertarians write blogs … Continue reading
gravitas
I called a locksmith today and he said he recognized my voice’s “heavy tone” from a previous job. I wonder whether that’s a translation of a Chinese idiom. Perhaps my voice was gravelly, as it sometimes is in the early … Continue reading
Posted in language, me!me!me!, music+verse
1 Comment
jargon often travels poorly
Ken MacLeod‘s recent novel Newton’s Wake (whose title I’m not sure I understand) has a character say: What we do is you tell us some more about Eurydice and its beautiful people, and then you get tired and emotional, and … Continue reading
Posted in language
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a first time for everything
Date: 13 Apr 2005 15:37:12 -0000 To: bronto@pobox.com Subject: QUERIDO MIO From: JAMES UDO INIEKPO Estimado Sr. Les saludos, soy JAMES UDO INIEKPO un director con el departamento de los recursos del petróleo y de la secretaria del agrupacion de … Continue reading
Posted in language, spam
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