Just recently I noticed that while there are words such as elsewhere, anderswo and annarsstaðar, we don't seem to have the equivalents for other things one could want to talk about using appropriate adverbs, such as time, manner, reason and so on. Put more simply, there is no elsewhen, elsehow, elsewhy and so on; we have to resort to somewhat ( Read more... )

Dear diary, today I learned …

… that shitgibbon is the term of art in linguistics for such appelations as slutwaffle, dickweed, cockweasel etc., where a single-syllable expletive is combined with an unrelated and innocious two-syllable word to create a new insult. (When applied to a person, shitgibbon is itself an example as well ( Read more... )

The following is by, and was shamelessly stolen from, Brent Yorgey's Math Less Traveled:

dodo

do go on

do no harm

do to others

go do likewise

go-go music

go no further

goto considered harmful

no can do

it’s a no go

a big no-no

say no to drugs

what to do

here or to go

to no avail

I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto

I thought this was ( Read more... )

There is no equivalent to the German Gesellschaft zur Stärkung der Verben (Society for Strengthening Verbs) in English, but the GSV itself quotes a column by Maggie Sullivan, cited in Steven Pinker's Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language:

Anatole Broyard is right to sound the alarm. We are losing this idiosyncrasy; as a language changes ( Read more... )

On the subject of English pronounciation (which you should definitely study, dearest creature in creation), here's a very amusing poem by France's Charles Battell Loomies, simply titled "O-U-G-H" (one imagines that the title is really pronounced as an annoyed "U-R-G-H!"):

I’m taught p-l-o-u-g-h

S’all be pronouncé “plow.”

“Zat’s easy w’en you ( Read more... )

From the list of Unusual Definitions™:

rustic bunting, n.

A spontaneous romantic interlude on a countryside ramble.

And from the list of Words That Don't Exist But Should™:

longcut, n.

An intentional detour; the "scenic route".

More Unusual Definitions, courtesy of yours truly:

demonstrate, v.

of a werewolf: to shapeshift into human form. (contrast remonstrate.)

"Allow me to demonstrate."

disgavel, v.

of a judge: to remove from office; to defrock.

palimpsest, adj. /pæˈlɪmpsɛst/

most resembling an elephant.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the palimpsest one of ( Read more... )

Some more shameless wordcoinery. First of all, from the list of Words That Don't Exist But Should™:

highfalute, v.

to hold oneself in unduly high regard.

"Lookit them turkeys, all highfalutin' as highfalute can."

And from the list of Unusual Definitions™:

carnie, n.

a meat lover.

monastery, n.

1. 
   the quality of receiving mostly 1-star ( Read more... )

I was talking to a friend recently about how English can be rather counter-intuitive at times when it's not your native language. For instance, consider the following Words That Don't Mean What You Think They Should:

• "invaluable" sounds like it should mean "worthless", but doesn't.
• "inflammable" is not the opposite of "flammable".
• "sanction" can ( Read more... )

From the list of Words That Should Exist But Don't™:

bauchery /ˈbɔː.t͡ʃə.ɹi/ n
modesty, restraint, pudency; specifically chastity, sexual abstinence.

Give it a try some time - walk up to, say, a church and exasperatedly exclaim "a... a den of bauchery!". :)