The Washington Post addresses a word that I love , the ever useful "so."
As someone who will be working on her Spanish the moment she hits Phoenix, I like this article on babies picking up foreign languages at daycare .
When I saw this article, "Humdinger of a Project: Tracing Slang to Ireland", I missed my dad because that would have been an awesome Christmas present. Miss G bought it for her dad, and describes it as a neat little compendium. I'm not sure what I think of the theory, but I have to admire the devotion.
Who doesn't love a LOLCat? Who doesn't find herself talking like a LOLCat sometimes? Not me. Anil Dash: Cats Can Has Grammar is an interesting post breaking down the grammar that has evolved around pictures of cats doing funny things.
Some of you have heard of my latest adventure in man catching (I was at the coffee bar at Trader Joe's and struck up a conversation a cheery "You're not from here!" when I heard an accent from back East coming out of a good looking fellow). May I recommend the International Dialects of English Archive for checking your own regionalism? The Central NJ (Princeton) accent is about half my speech, but years of Southern literature, country music and Ohio residence have flattened some vowels and sent some of my pronunciation past the Mason-Dixon.
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Friday, October 26, 2007
Reasons To Leave Cleveland
I have a lot of good sensible reasons for forming my half-assed plan to leave Cleveland, but one of the things I am leaving to get away from is the question:
"Where is that at?"
Every time I heard that particular bit of garbled grammar, I feel the urge to kick the speaker. It's so engrained out here, that you can't fight it. Best to just run.
"Where is that at?"
Every time I heard that particular bit of garbled grammar, I feel the urge to kick the speaker. It's so engrained out here, that you can't fight it. Best to just run.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Improve Your Vocabulary The Kerry Way
So I have a bunch of words I've been working into conversation lately because, hey--I enjoy being inscrutable, and I like being creative.
Sidework: That mindless stuff that you do on the side of whatever your main duties at the moment are--for instance, weeding is sidework for reference. Sometimes, no one wants help, so you discard books and stamp them cancelled for want of not being bored out of your mind. I took this from Peg Bracken's awesome ettiquette book, I Try to Behave Myself, where she advises having a stash of sidework on you at all times so you can distract yourself from the urge to run your mouth at annoying acquaintances. Or slap them.
Roundheels: A nicer way of saying slut. I used this in an email to MFA Jane recently. I was referring to myself.
Brickbat: This is a title to a rather bittersweet Billy Bragg song. I was curiousenough to look it up and it's a word meaning a cutting critical remark or dig. I love it. It's also "a fragment of brick used as a weapon."
Shanty vs. Lace Curtain: I honestly think the conflict and pull between being shanty and lace curtain Irish describes my life perfectly. I am "lace curtain" when I sneer at lingerie showers and money dances and when I take pride in my cashmere sweaters and Master's degree. I'm so shanty when I haven't washed the kitchen floor for a month.
Sidework: That mindless stuff that you do on the side of whatever your main duties at the moment are--for instance, weeding is sidework for reference. Sometimes, no one wants help, so you discard books and stamp them cancelled for want of not being bored out of your mind. I took this from Peg Bracken's awesome ettiquette book, I Try to Behave Myself, where she advises having a stash of sidework on you at all times so you can distract yourself from the urge to run your mouth at annoying acquaintances. Or slap them.
Roundheels: A nicer way of saying slut. I used this in an email to MFA Jane recently. I was referring to myself.
Brickbat: This is a title to a rather bittersweet Billy Bragg song. I was curiousenough to look it up and it's a word meaning a cutting critical remark or dig. I love it. It's also "a fragment of brick used as a weapon."
Shanty vs. Lace Curtain: I honestly think the conflict and pull between being shanty and lace curtain Irish describes my life perfectly. I am "lace curtain" when I sneer at lingerie showers and money dances and when I take pride in my cashmere sweaters and Master's degree. I'm so shanty when I haven't washed the kitchen floor for a month.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
The Perfect Word
Okay, let's play "Spot Poor Word Choice":
From a description of an article in last week's New York Times "A journey into the Himalayas to the plantation of Darjeeling proves to be a teetotaler's version of a Napa Valley wine tour, but a lot less crowded."
You see it, right? Teetotaler. The meaning of teetotaler is a person who abstains, particularly from strong drink or alcohol. Since Prohibition, it's not a word that gets used much here in the US--it's a very British word. According to this, when spelled "teatotaller" it can indicate someone with a love of tea over all other beverages. Although it's taken from fucking Wikipedia, so grain of salt, darling. But when used as it is in the quotation above it's just flat out wrong. The article had nothing to do with the author's preference for tea over other beverages. It was a simple travelogue. The copywiter saw a pun and jumped on it without thinking through the word useage.
I was a little disappointed in the NYT when I saw this. I found it jarring.
From a description of an article in last week's New York Times "A journey into the Himalayas to the plantation of Darjeeling proves to be a teetotaler's version of a Napa Valley wine tour, but a lot less crowded."
You see it, right? Teetotaler. The meaning of teetotaler is a person who abstains, particularly from strong drink or alcohol. Since Prohibition, it's not a word that gets used much here in the US--it's a very British word. According to this, when spelled "teatotaller" it can indicate someone with a love of tea over all other beverages. Although it's taken from fucking Wikipedia, so grain of salt, darling. But when used as it is in the quotation above it's just flat out wrong. The article had nothing to do with the author's preference for tea over other beverages. It was a simple travelogue. The copywiter saw a pun and jumped on it without thinking through the word useage.
I was a little disappointed in the NYT when I saw this. I found it jarring.
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