tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17909498994892222982024-02-08T01:30:24.082-05:00Lovely Little LexemesExploring the strange and wonderful English language, one word at a time.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.comBlogger588125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-5619492520834859752018-11-27T11:23:00.000-05:002018-11-27T11:23:00.619-05:00Link Dumphttp://www.npr.org/blogs/npr-history-dept/2015/04/17/400061497/addiction-in-american-history-14-vivid-graphs<br />
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http://www.npr.org/2015/04/12/399210557/the-rise-of-the-no-totally-linguistic-phenomenon<br />
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http://www.npr.org/2015/02/02/383289958/fuhgeddaboudit-new-york-accent-on-its-way-out-linguists-say<br />
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http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php</div>
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Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-85817056479532516692018-11-16T10:33:00.001-05:002018-11-16T10:33:15.891-05:00P it for PterodactylThe perfect holiday gift for any child you'd like to confuse beyond belief:<br />
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1492674311/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-15540738951912050732018-11-16T10:21:00.002-05:002018-11-16T10:21:45.730-05:00"For whatever reason, foods and curse words linger longer in a disrupted language."https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-capicola-became-gabagool-the-italian-new-jersey-accent-explainedMrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-47667920345725778452018-08-31T13:22:00.002-04:002018-11-20T11:21:21.474-05:00Grab a horn of zeese and read this:<a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/01/17/377734363/do-you-harp-a-slib-of-the-ling-one-small-towns-opaque-language?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150117">http://www.npr.org/2015/01/17/377734363/do-you-harp-a-slib-of-the-ling-one-small-towns-opaque-language</a>Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-57383541481453208452018-08-31T13:20:00.002-04:002018-08-31T13:20:14.575-04:00I want to hear some good ones...What's your favorite word? Why?<br />
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What's your least favorite word? Why?<br />
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<br />Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-79131916563719956332017-05-08T16:57:00.001-04:002017-05-08T16:57:07.565-04:00Words You Won't Use<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.chzbgr.com/full/6321865472/h19DEE200/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="590" src="https://i.chzbgr.com/full/6321865472/h19DEE200/" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="https://i.chzbgr.com/full/6321865472/h19DEE200/">source</a>)</td></tr>
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Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-66729043345314039042014-11-25T09:00:00.000-05:002014-12-11T12:36:09.693-05:00Link dump<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/09/15/346794301/language-of-food-reveals-mysteries-of-menu-words-and-ketchup">An unexpected history of <i>ketchup</i> in this NPR interview with Dan Jurafsky, author of "The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/11/07/359345125/from-big-jues-to-tay-tay-water-a-quick-guide-to-liberian-english?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202507">A Quick Guide to Liberian English, by Michaeleen Doucleff on NPR Blogs</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.hotelclub.com/blog/idioms-of-the-world-infographic/">Don't 'let a frog out of your mouth' by misusing these fun international idioms</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/17/364802028/take-it-in-vape-is-the-oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2042"><i>Vape</i> beats out <i>bae</i>, <i>slacktivism</i>, and others for 'Oxford Word of the Year'</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.iflscience.com/brain/languages-lost-infancy-discovered-brain">Languages "lost" in infancy imprint on the brain in a way similar to bilingualism</a><br />
<br />Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-37703178199518089842014-11-21T09:00:00.000-05:002014-11-21T09:00:00.676-05:00Get some writing juices flowing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIieR7e_5IURsIR4GsswdI21IoJplvEeXtBWLwEhm6y25G2Rbm_nmq2C88S3_vuQKGCR7ZLqdgGempCJq9EUILyw6tJXcZ08-7PxnxX6gqdxZmfUxosetL8izWF9fTk72pDycdlEQyexM/s1600/IMG_2104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIieR7e_5IURsIR4GsswdI21IoJplvEeXtBWLwEhm6y25G2Rbm_nmq2C88S3_vuQKGCR7ZLqdgGempCJq9EUILyw6tJXcZ08-7PxnxX6gqdxZmfUxosetL8izWF9fTk72pDycdlEQyexM/s1600/IMG_2104.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-77585051024184177822014-11-01T13:58:00.003-04:002018-08-31T13:27:14.556-04:00How to fart in KoreaI happened upon <a href="http://chapmangamo.tumblr.com/">this great Tumblr blog</a> that you should check out. The owner, James Chapman, makes a weekly poster highlighting a specific theme and how it is represented in various languages around the world.<br />
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JamesSHOPMAN?ref=l2-shopheader-name">Some of his creations are even available for purchase on Etsy</a>.</div>
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Beware! You might waste a lot of time on his site. Enjoy!</div>
<br />Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-52210571652984888172014-09-22T14:28:00.002-04:002014-09-22T14:30:17.976-04:00Did you know......why we call it a "trunk?"<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhvm3zAqM_32Fw2c98vD2WrZ9UlAtn1bxWCLukV0JWdJoJjom4H3-l6WcLCv8V9gEA49JVQoEOdupLUj2YmvTFVxGlIU_9cDSzqRqOA06wiHoCiDq4ybXk9aaDWFYyUq6YwUKXlW0lNY/s640/blogger-image--2100211086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhvm3zAqM_32Fw2c98vD2WrZ9UlAtn1bxWCLukV0JWdJoJjom4H3-l6WcLCv8V9gEA49JVQoEOdupLUj2YmvTFVxGlIU_9cDSzqRqOA06wiHoCiDq4ybXk9aaDWFYyUq6YwUKXlW0lNY/s400/blogger-image--2100211086.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(s<a href="http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1929-chevrolet-international-ac-coupe.htm">ource</a>)</td></tr>
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Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-19653042029735202182014-08-25T12:20:00.003-04:002014-08-25T12:24:20.852-04:00Our Greatest InventionI just happened upon <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/06/21/shapes-for-sounds/">this article</a> about a book called 'Shapes for Sounds: Why alphabets look like they do, what has happened to them since printing was invented, why they won't ever change, and how it might have been.'<br />
<br />
I haven't read the book yet (I just <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0979966620/braipick-20">ordered it</a>), but some of the pictures are so fascinating.<br />
<br />
For instance, what if we wrote in blocks of color?<br />
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<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shapesforsounds2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shapesforsounds2.jpg" width="550" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
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Linguists commonly use charts like this:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ipa-chart-vowel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ipa-chart-vowel.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="http://www.thepolyglotdream.com/">source</a>)</td></tr>
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to map sounds that happen in our face:</div>
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<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shapesforsounds1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shapesforsounds1.jpg" height="400" width="362" /></a></div>
<br />
Extrapolating from those charts, the book shows us this:<br />
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<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shapesforsounds7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shapesforsounds7.jpg" width="550" /></a></div>
<br />
Which is really quite cool.<br />
<br />
I should have my book in a few days, so I'll check back in when I've had a chance to study it. In the meantime, what do you think? Have any of you read this book? Do you agree that writing is one of mankind's greatest inventions?<br />
<br />Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-80228533751009162002014-08-15T20:53:00.001-04:002014-08-20T11:35:11.218-04:00I love this kind of thing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.grammar.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/misunderstoodwords-623x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.grammar.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/misunderstoodwords-623x1024.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="http://www.grammar.net/misunderstoodwords">Grammar.net</a></td></tr>
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Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-57215971809486408462014-04-27T14:21:00.001-04:002014-04-27T14:21:19.566-04:00Ghetto, part deuxI did a post on <i><a href="http://lovelylittlelexemes.blogspot.com/2011/03/ghetto.html" target="_blank">ghetto</a></i> a while ago, but I just saw <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/04/27/306829915/segregated-from-its-history-how-ghetto-lost-its-meaning?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140427" target="_blank">this article</a> on NPR and thought you might find it interesting. Enjoy!Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-61887108671284866212012-10-05T00:35:00.002-04:002012-10-05T00:35:47.858-04:00QiDo you play Scrabble? Or Words With Friends? If so, you know this word, but do you know what it means?<br />
<br />
Qi \chee\ , noun;<br />
1. <i>Eastern medicine, martial arts, etc.</i>: Vital energy believed to circulate around the body in currents.<br />
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<i>Qi</i> has also been spelled <i>chi</i> or <i>ch'i</i>, depending on which method of Chinese-to-English transcription is in use (<i>qi</i> is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin" target="_blank">pinyin</a>, the others are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles" target="_blank">Wade-Giles</a>). Either way it comes from Chinese 气 (氣), which means "air, breath," and dates to around 1850 in English.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-62084719132856323552012-09-18T14:14:00.001-04:002012-09-18T14:14:17.917-04:00Thanks to Shakespeare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqx1trc0dV1qbvyrlo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqx1trc0dV1qbvyrlo1_500.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(<a href="http://nawasaka.tumblr.com/post/10116519595/fuckyeahmoleskines-nawasaka-tumblr-com-i" target="_blank">source</a>)</td></tr>
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Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-52684498226203138242012-09-07T21:40:00.000-04:002012-09-07T21:40:20.527-04:00One fell swoop"Suddenly, in a single action"<br />
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I started thinking about this phrase today because I realized I didn't know how to spell the second word. I quickly discovered that the main reason I didn't know how to spell it was because I was mispronouncing it. I always thought it was <i>one</i> <i>foul/fowl swoop</i>. Egg on my face.<br />
<br />
So now that we know the correct way to say it (good for you if you've known it all along, smarty pants), the question is: where does it come from?<br />
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It is first attested by Shakespeare in Macbeth (1605):<br />
All my pretty ones?<br />
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?<br />
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam<br />
At <i>one fell swoop</i>?<br />
<br />
The fact that Shakespeare was the first to write it down (that we know of) means one of two things: he coined it or it was an existing slang/idiomatic phrase. Shakespeare is the first attestation of many English words because he wrote very idiomatically, which was a revolutionary idea in his day. He also coined his share of words, but it can be hard to tease out what he invented and what he took from slang of various language groups around him.<br />
<br />
Shakespeare's usage of <i>one fell swoop</i> gives up clues as to the origin of the meaning. A kite is a hunting bird, which <i>swoops </i>down to catch its prey. <i>Fell</i> in this context means something different than what Modern English speakers might expect: "fierce, savage, cruel." Over the centuries the sense of "savageness" was lost and we are left with a meaning of "all at once."Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-30612633370879578612012-09-04T13:39:00.002-04:002012-09-04T13:39:46.777-04:00Are you a language buff in the NYC area?Starting later this month, the <a href="http://www.amnh.org/" target="_blank">American Museum of Natural History</a> in New York City is hosting a 5-part series entitled "Is Your Brain Wired for Language?"<br />
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<a href="http://www.amnh.org/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/brain/561338-1-eng-US/brain_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.amnh.org/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/brain/561338-1-eng-US/brain_large.jpg" width="313" /></a></div>
The 2-hour Monday evening lectures will cover topics related to how our brains create language, how language shapes our brain, why learning language is so easy for children and so difficult for adults, and how the biology of language in the brain changes throughout our lifespans. Participants will also learn about the hardwired circuity that makes us good at language and what happens when the circuits go awry.<br />
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For tickets and exact dates, click <a href="http://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/adults/sackler-brain-bench/is-your-brain-wired-for-language?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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**For the record, I am not affiliated with the museum, The Mortimer D. Sackler Foundation, or this lecture series in any way. I just saw this opportunity and thought you might like to go!Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-19394474691371248622012-08-26T09:19:00.000-04:002018-08-31T13:28:15.229-04:00FabulistFabulist \FAB-yuh-list\ , noun;<br />
1. A liar<br />
2. A person who invents or relates fables<br />
<i><br />Fabulist</i> dates to the 1590's from French <i>fabuliste</i>, which derives from Latin <i>fabula</i> ("story, play, fable, tale"). <i>Fabula</i> literally translates as "that which is told" and is related to <i>fari</i> ("speak, tell"), which ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European <i>*bha-</i> ("speak"). <i>*Bha-</i> is also the forebear of <i>fame</i> via Latin <i>fama</i> and Old French <i>fame</i>.<br />
<i>Fabula </i>is also responsible for <i>fabulous</i>. Latin <i>fabulosus </i>means "celebrated in fable; rich in myths" which became "mythical, legendary" in early 15th century English. <i>Fabulous </i>meaning "incredible" is first attested in 1600.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-20529518092576381662012-08-23T13:50:00.000-04:002012-08-23T13:50:44.184-04:00SparseSparse \spahrs\ , adjective;<br />
1. Thinly scattered or distributed<br />
2. Not thick or dense; thin<br />
3. Scanty; meager<br />
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So, you may have noticed that this blog has been a bit <i>sparse</i> lately. That's because we moved, spent the summer in the midwest, I spent a week in California, and now we're unpacking our house. Basically, I haven't had a lot of spare time. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon and I'll be able to blog again more regularly. In the meantime, let me know if there are any words/phrases/etc. that you are curious about!<br />
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<i>Sparse</i> dates to 1727 from Latin <i>sparus</i> ("scattered"), which is the past participle of <i>spargere</i> ("to scatter, spread"), which ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European <i>*</i>(<i>s</i>)<i>pregh-</i> ("to jerk, scatter"). That PIE root also spawned such words as Sanskrit<i> parjanya</i> ("rain, rain god"), Old Norse<i> freknur</i> ("freckles"), and English<i> spry</i> ("nimble; agile; energetic; brisk").Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-41724953313064580242012-08-04T23:03:00.001-04:002012-08-04T23:03:11.241-04:00-er v. -orA friend pointed out an interesting English quirk to me the other day: Why is a <i>prisoner</i> in prison but a <i>jailer</i> runs the jail?<br />
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The answer lies in the suffix, <i>-er</i>, which derives from a Proto-Germanic suffix<i> -ărjo-z</i>, which was added to nouns and meant "a person who has do to with [noun]." Originally the main purpose of this construction was to denote a persons job - a <i>jailer</i> work for a jail. In Modern English the meaning expanded to also denote something a person does that is not necessarily their profession - a <i>runner</i> runs, but it's probably not their day job. The definition further evolved into something like "a native or inhabitant of," which is where we get <i>New Yorker</i> or <i>southerner</i> - and <i>prisoner</i>.<br />
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As a side note, there is an obsolete definition of<i> prisoner</i> that meant "person who runs the prison."Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-48484915747837056922012-07-21T00:56:00.000-04:002012-07-21T00:56:48.891-04:00SelcouthSelcouth \SEL-kooth\ , adjective;<br />
1. Strange; uncommon<br />
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This word is considered obsolete, but it caught my eye because it is similar to <i>uncouth</i>, a word which I know nothing about (other than the definition, I guess).<br />
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<i>Selcouth</i> is first attested in 888 and is a combination of Old English <i>seld-an</i> + <i>cuð</i> ("seldom" + "known"). <i>Cuð</i> became <i>couth</i>, which is also obsolete except as a back-formation from <i>uncouth</i>. The original meaning of <i>couth</i> was "well-known, familiar," so <i>uncouth</i> was "unknown." This evolved into "awkward, clumsy; strange," which led to a 'new' <i>couth</i> which means "cultured, well-mannered."Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-78379418029646357252012-07-13T12:10:00.000-04:002012-07-13T12:10:00.884-04:00StreetologyStreetology \street-OL-uh-jee\ , noun;<br />
1. The science or knowledge of the streets of a town or city<br />
2. The skills and knowledge necessary for dealing with modern urban life<br />
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So, this sounds like something you study at the school of hard knocks, no?<br />
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Today this word is more a synonym or <i>street smarts</i> than the knowledge required to be a good taxi driver, but it can technically mean both things. It was first attested in 1837 as the title of a book about London. It is, of course, based on <i>street </i>which derives from Old English <i>stret</i> and <i>stræt</i> ("street, high road"), both of which come from an early Western Germanic borrowing of Late Latin <i>strata</i>. <i>Strata</i> is the feminine past participle of <i>sternere</i> ("lay down, spread out, pave") and was used in the phrase <i>via strata</i> ("paved road"). <i>Sternere</i> derives from Proto-Indo-European <i>*stre-to-</i> ("to stretch, extend") from <i>*stere-</i> ("to spread, extend, stretch out"), which is also the forebear of <i>structure</i>. From the very beginning, <i>street</i> has been distinctive from <i>road </i>or <i>way</i> as a paved or 'made' path, as opposed to just a way people go.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-3090534666202650862012-07-11T11:54:00.000-04:002012-07-11T11:54:00.824-04:00OublietteOubliette \oo-blee-ET\ , noun;<br />
1. A secret dungeon with an opening only in the ceiling, as in certain old castles<br />
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It dates to 1777 from French <i>oubliette</i>, taken from <i>oublier</i> ("to forget"). <i>Oublier</i> is from Old French <i>oblider</i>, which is the Vulgar Latin derivative of Latin <i>oblivisci</i> ("forget").<br />
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Spooky, right? A dungeon with one way in a no way out. Just drop someone in the hole and forget about them. Yikes.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-42869028538081076712012-07-10T11:49:00.000-04:002012-08-04T23:04:35.499-04:00WhomWhom \hoom\ , pronoun;<br />
1. The objective case of <i>who</i><br />
2. The dative case of <i>who</i><br />
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First, the proper way to use <i>who</i> and <i>whom</i>:Both words are pronouns, but <i>who</i> is a subject and <i>whom</i> is an object. So, if your answer is <i>he</i> or <i>she</i> the question word is <i>who</i>. If your answer is <i>him</i> or <i>her</i> use <i>who</i>. That's confusing, so here's an example:<br />
<i> Who invited Jerry? He invited Jerry.</i><br />
<i> Jerry was invited by whom? Jerry was invited by her.</i><br />
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Got it? If not, don't worry about it. It's not really important anymore unless you are a hard-core grammar type, or if someone grading your papers is. This sort of thing (like <a href="http://lovelylittlelexemes.blogspot.com/2012/07/shall.html" target="_blank"><i>shall</i></a>) is a grammar technicality that comes up in the prescriptive v. descriptive debate. Prescriptive grammar is what you are taught in school: 'proper English'. You know, don't split infinitives, don't start sentences with <i>and</i>, etc. Descriptive grammar is the way people really speak. Elisions like <i>gonna</i> and <i>wanna</i> sprinkle oral English, along with abominations like<i>, "Where are you going? I wanna come with."</i> (The error is ending a sentence with a preposition, but you already knew that). Generally speaking, linguists are more concerned with descriptive language because that's the most common way that language is used. Writers, editors, and English teachers are more concerned with prescriptive grammar because 'proper English' is the lingua franca of written language.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1790949899489222298.post-9014442637119414242012-07-09T23:17:00.000-04:002012-07-09T23:17:07.395-04:00ShallShall \shal\ , auxiliary verb;<br />
1. Plan to, intend to, or expect to<br />
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<i>Shall </i>is the present tense of <i>should</i>, though it is quickly falling into the archaic category, along with <i>whom</i> and probably others.<br />
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It comes from Old English <i>sceal</i> ("I owe/he owes, will have to, ought to, must), which is conjugated from the infinitive <i>sculan</i>, and derives from Proto-Germanic <i>*skal-</i> or <i>*skul-</i>. The past tense of <i>sculan</i> was <i>sceolde</i>, which gave rise to <i>should</i>.Mrs. Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07353984575771207635noreply@blogger.com0