Modern Love – In a Foreign Language, Are the Words ‘I Love You’ Just Sounds? – NYTimes.com
Tag: language
How to Argue Effectively – Dave Barry
Use meaningless but weighty-sounding words and phrases. Memorize this list:
- Let me put it this way
- In terms of
- Vis-a-vis
- Per se
- As it were
- Qua
- Ipso facto
- Ergo
- So to speak
And suddenly everything he had been doing stood up…
The five texts « Snarkmarket. Great line.
Mondegreen – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I didn’t know there was a word for this: “A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song.” For example, CCR’s “There’s a bathroom on the right” and Hendrix’s “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy”.
George Carlin’s last interview is really good. He talks about language, writing, drugs, religion, life, the whole deal.
Common phrases in Icelandic, a collection of videos and another cool resource I’ve found getting ready for vacation. Not too long ago, you wouldn’t be able to hear a native speaker until you got there. In the same way, when look on Flickr I can see recent photos in Reykjavik, see what folks are wearing, get a feel for the street. It’s be easy to go overboard with this pre-immersion stuff and dampen all the surprises, but it’s really cool.
Graphing the accepted spelling of “ThunderCats, ho!”
Based on some keyword research I did this afternoon. “ThunderCats, ho!” is a natural winner in Google search results. The long tail of enthusiasm extends to over 35 o’s, after which point I gave up.
The most interesting part is that HUGE drop in hits for the 3-o version. Among its neighboring easy-to-type competitors, “ThunderCats, hooo!” is a clear loser. If you want to stay in the safe, accepted, comfortable range, stick with the 1-, 2-, 4-, 5-, or 7-o versions. I’m drawn to the 10+ range for sheer exuberance.
The Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese (review: 3/5)
Each chapter of The Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese takes on a broad topic, like criminal law, tort, money, or sex. Author Adam Freedman brings up the main vocabulary (habeas corpus, misdemeanor, legal tender) and some of the more obscure ideas (per stirpes, res ipsa loquitur), exploring their roots along the way, and most importantly, grappling with why in the world we accept such tortured language.
The legal system and lawyers are convenient punching bags (I would be more surprised if Freedman had a difficulty finding things to puzzle over), but I didn’t expect the book to be quite so funny. He often seems like a stand-up comic: introduction, development, punchline. It seems like every paragraph had some bit of goofiness. Plenty of the jokes were just corny, but much of it was good. I also like that Freedman keeps a few running gags across sections and chapters of the book, like the recurring “four-hour erections” bit from an early chapter on legal disclaimers.
I don’t expect to buy it or ever read it again, but it was perfect for a few mornings on the train to work. You can read an excerpt from the first chapter to get a feel for it, or take a look at Freedman’s blog of the same title, The Party of the First Part.
This platitude is the new dead metaphor. Kottke revives and collects some previous research into one of the latest language fads, where X is the new Y. I think I’m officially over this phrase.
Mark Larson 