I watch a fair number of foreign movies and TV shows, both those originating in other English speaking countries as well as some from countries that speak a different language. I’m frequently surprised at how many references to American culture they contain. Perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise in the English speaking countries, … Continue reading OK
Words
A Little of This and That
In Paul Krugman’s recent column, “Bezos, Backlash and Zombies”, he wrote about the recent appearance of Jeff Bezos on CNBC and how he lied his way through the whole interview: Public discourse about taxes and inequality is, even more than discussion of other economic topics, infested with zombies — ideas that should be dead, having … Continue reading A Little of This and That
F Bombs and Other Expletives
When did I start using strong language? Certainly not when I was in high school. The group that I mostly hung out with didn’t use strong language, so neither did I. At least not on any kind of regular basis. I recall when I arrived at Penn State and heard so many other guys, especially … Continue reading F Bombs and Other Expletives
Ralph/Rafe
I received some feedback the other day on my claim that the British English pronunciation of the proper name “Ralph” is “Rayff”. It ain’t necessarily so, said my correspondent. A friend of mine from the island of Jersey told me that "Ralph" is just pronounced "ralf" in the UK like we Americans do. She said … Continue reading Ralph/Rafe
Quick Takes
Quote of the day: I am terribly shy, but of course no one believes me. Come to think of it, neither would I.—Carol Channing According to Ashley Cullins in her new book, Your Favorite Scary Movie, the writer of the original Scream movie, Kevin Williamson, was inspired to create that horror film by of all people, … Continue reading Quick Takes
I Before E
In case you haven’t seen it, this pic is apparently making the rounds: Don’t you just love the English language?
America’s Most Misspelled Words
Over on Language Log there’s a post on America's Most Misspelled Words. They did an analysis of Google search data using the following methodology: We used Google Trends to discover the most misspelled words and Ahrefs to find the number of searches. Americas most misspelled words can be discovered in Google Trends by searching for … Continue reading America’s Most Misspelled Words
Hamlet Act III Scene ii line 254
I have been working on this post for several days and I just can’t get it into a form where I’m satisfied that I’ve said what I want to say. So I can either scrap it or just hurl it out into the ether and get it over with. I’ve decided to hurl it. Here … Continue reading Hamlet Act III Scene ii line 254
Engine
As I was reading Asimov’s New Guide to Science, I came across this passage: The first person to translate this idea into a practical working device, however, was an English military engineer named Thomas Savery. His steam engine (the word engine originally denoted any ingenious device and comes from the same Greek root as ingenious) could … Continue reading Engine
These Are a Few of the Trivial Things
I enjoy reading about word origins, especially how words evolved to mean something very different from what they originally meant. While I get very annoyed as I’m living through the evolution of language, and many of my pet peeves have to do with people using words to mean something other than what they originally meant … Continue reading These Are a Few of the Trivial Things