Comic #5: Nuances

Sorry for using a bit of a "rerun" - this is from my original comic and due to and uncooperative computer I'm repurposing it for language use.

In Korean there is a word hyuji which literally means "rest". You can add suffixes to make new words, such as hyujishil, a room where one rests, and hyujiso, a rest area (as in one off the highway). However, as I found out, it's important not to confuse hyujishil with hwajangshil, which is where you'll actually find the toilets.

And yes, they sell waffles at rest areas in Korea. I don't know why.

Improve Your English!

A commercial. Reposted here for your enjoyment.

(credit to my friend Adrian for suggesting I should post this here)

Word Buzz Friday

Hey Language Nerds!

I don't know if you are as obsessed with twitter as I am, but did you know there is a name for what your friends who constantly tweet celebrities? Yes. That's right there it. Maybe now, it will become a disorder like Facebook addiction. Only time will tell.

Tweet Dropping:

When a twitter user has a one-way conversation with a celebrity so that to the users followers, it seems like they are talking to a celebrity and thus are instantly über-cool in the eyes of their followers, when in fact they are a loser with nothing better to do than have a fake conversation with themselves.

Similar to name dropping IRL, but even more annoying and even less likely to be true.

Tweet-Dropper: @BritneySpears How did the barbecue go? I heard Justin Timberlake was there too >.< awkward?

Tweet-Dropper (A few minutes later, without a reply from Britney): @BritneySpears Haha yes, I suppose after a while it got pretty normal for both of you, you must go to loads of the same things!

Have a great weekend! I'm outta here!

Comic #4: Style

Do you generally associate a language with a style of dress? I've never thought about it that way, but when I had this girl approach me certain I spoke English because of what I was wearing, I was a bit shocked, to say the least. The shocking part of course, she then couldn't identify the country (England? Canada? Australia?), but seemed to assume only an anglophone girl would be wearing jean shorts and a rugby shirt that says "Ireland".

Do you generally look at a way someone is dressed and say "oh, he must speak Italian" or something similar? Does a common language really imply a common culture? Or is it just for anglophones? It does have me wondering.

Your vs. You're

The inability to differentiate between your and you're is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. While I'm not a strict prescriptionist - I think language does change over time and we have to be aware of this - using your for you're (or you're for your) is one grammar mistake that I cannot condone. I have heard the argument that as long as you understand what the other person is trying to convey, then it does not matter how that person chose to express their point.

However, I recently came across a very poignant example of why you should never mix up your and you're. As you may recall, we language nerds had a blog called The Grammar Vandal as one of our blogs of the week. Well, the Grammar Vandal published a post called, "She got what she deserved." This is only a part of what she wrote (please visit her site for the full post, and a chance to vote on whether this person really got what she deserved):

This is my new favorite entry on my new favorite Web site, fmylife.com:

Today, I was flirting via text with a coworker. Things started getting heated, and I wanted to send her a sexy picture. I asked if she had any suggestions. She said, “Your nuts!” She meant, “YOU’RE nuts.” I sent her a photo of my junk. I offended a co-worker with incriminating evidence. FML

Okay. We know this guy isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Anyone knows you don’t send naked pictures to someone you barely know. And I’m going to assume that these two people are over the age of 18, because if not, that’s a different issue altogether. Assuming they both are above the age of consent,

That girl got exactly what she deserved.

She mixed up “your” and “you’re” and thus was blinded with an image of the least attractive part of the male anatomy, an image that will likely stick in her mind for quite a long time.

The vast majority of the time, using "your" when you mean "you're" probably won't produce a result such as the above example. But I think it offers a quality reason why you should practice proper grammar - if you're not careful about what you say, it could take on an entirely new and unintended meaning.

Does the mistake of using "your" for "you're" bother you? Also: what do you think has contributed to using your (possessive) for you're (contraction of you are)?

Word Buzz Friday: Scrabble Edition

I've decided to take a different approach to the Word Buzz today. Today is the Scrabble (or Literati) edition! What to do with those hard to use letters? Well now, I have your solution. The good part is that these words actually exist and they won't leave you scratching your head while you try to explain to your friends that you are just sure you've seen the word "qwobyx" before. (Although it if it did exist you would have 10+4+1+4+8=27 points at least!)

I did the digging for you in the Dictionary of Difficult Words. The points are as follows:

• 2 blank tiles (scoring 0 points)
• 1 point: E ×12, A ×9, I ×9, O ×8, N ×6, R ×6, T ×6, L ×4, S ×4, U ×4
• 2 points: D ×4, G ×3
• 3 points: B ×2, C ×2, M ×2, P ×2
• 4 points: F ×2, H ×2, V ×2, W ×2, Y ×2
• 5 points: K ×1
• 8 points: J ×1, X ×1
• 10 points: Q ×1, Z ×1

Some of my favs are:

1. Quaff (10+1+1+4+4= 20 points at least):
v.t. drink deeply; drink in long draughts; n. a long draught.

2. Quixotic (10+1+1+8+1+1+1+3=24 pts at least):
a. idealistic; altruistic; unpractical. quixotism, quixotry, n.

3. Kabbadi (5+1+3+3+1+2+1= 16 at least):
n. Indian game of tag, played by two teams.

4. Jalousie (8+1+1+1+1+1+1+1= 15 at least):
n. blind or shutter with slats slanting upwards and inwards.

5. Xenogamy (8+1+1+1+2+1+3+4= 21 at least):
n. cross-fertilization. xenogenesis, n. production of offspring unlike the parent. xenograft, n. heterograft. xenolith, n. rock particle included in another rock. xenomorphic a. with a form not its own.

6. Zollverein (10+1+1+1+4+1+1+1+1= 21 at least):
n. 'customs-union' as organized by Prussia in the 1830s.

7. Zymosis (10+4+3+1+1+1+1= 21 at least):
n. fermentation; process resembling fermentation in development of infectious disease.

Now go forth and kick some buttocks (2+1+1+1+1+1+5+1) at Scrabble!

Comic Strip Thursday

Tasha is still on spring break, so yet again, I give you a Pearls Before Swine comic for your enjoyment. And yes, in case it's not completely obvious by now, I'm a huge fan of Pearls Before Swine. But not only that, this comic goes really well with our blog of the week. Please note that if you are unable to see the entire comic, clicking the picture will allow you to view the full comic.




PS. If you like Pearls Before Swine as much as I do, you can read the comic strip daily here or you can check out the blog of Pearls Before Swine's creator, Stephan Pastis.

Uruguayan English Ads

These are two ads I saw for English Classes in Montevideo, Uruguay. I love how they use the vos (like the tú form, but used mostly in Argentina, Uruguay and El Salvador...not sure where else) form of the command venir= to come. ¡VENÍ!

Technology and Language: Spell Check

First, a poem from "Candidate for a Pullet Surprise," The Journal of Irreproducible Results:

I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles to reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.


What really is spell check? That spell check actually checks your spelling is a misnomer, because when you run spell check on your computer, you are asking it to compare the words you have typed to the computer's internal dictionary. That means if a word is not in the computer's dictionary, such as places, last names, and unique first names (like our own Miyaunna) the computer will consider it misspelled, even though it is correct. My last name is considered spelled incorrectly on OpenOffice.org (running on my Linux computer). Suggestions for correct spelling include Shortener, Softener, Schooner, and my favorite, Shotgunner. However, as I am just noticing, on Windows XP/Mozilla Firefox/Blogger, Shortener and Shotgunner are spelled "incorrectly."

As with the poem above, it is apparent that spell check does not check content. Using an incorrect word (due for do, sew for so, knot for not and so on), will escape the notice of a spell checker - like when I meant to type ganging up and typed gaining up instead, and didn't realize it until Kyle so "graciously" pointed it out. Being able to check grammar in a word processing document may be one way to make sure that your grammar is correct, but it is not fail-proof, just as spell check is not. Computers do not think for themselves - they have been programmed to process information in a specific way. Grammar and spelling are not always cut and dry - consider Kyle's post about a vs an, and how under different circumstances, both an historic and a historic can be correct. Grammar evolves, new words are born, and computers may not have this updated knowledge. There is no substitute for human proof-reading - whether we realize it or not, we instinctively know more about own language than a computer does.

With all the negatives of spell check out of the way, I will say that used with the correct frame of mind, spell check can be very beneficial. As Miyaunna said in her comment about the poll results for what kind of influence you think spell check has had on our knowledge of language, spell check keeps her on her toes. When you are already a decent speller, spell check serves more as a time saver to clue you in if you have misspelled a word, or if, as it happens to me often, typing too fast causes you to mix up letters within a word. And spell check also allows you to see how a word should be spelled, which can help you with spelling in the future as long as you learn from your mistakes (as opposed to just letting the spell check correct your spelling without bothering to learn the correct spelling).

Spell check has had an influence on language - whether it is perceived as negative or positive is debatable depending on how you view the situation. Could you imagine a world without spell check? How would it affect you?

Word Buzz Friday

Hello all. Since Sara is currently on vacation in Montevideo, you get me. I'm a poor substitute, but bear with me and I'm sure you'll survive.

For last week's word buzz, Sara featured snarf, a word which I thought sounded like a combination of sneeze and barf. Coincidentally, my linguistics assignment for the week was to read a chapter on language processing, in which word blends were covered. Have you ever tried to say two words at once and it came out mushed together? I know I have. Those mushed up words are called blends. One fine example of a blend? Spanglish.

Here are my two favorite blend words, both of which I mangled all on my own:

Rememory: a combination of recall and memory. Example: "I would do better on my tests if I had good rememory, because those cheat sheets are hard to recall with my poor memory."

Dipsy: a combination of ditsy and tipsy. And yes, I was dipsy when I came up with this word.

What are some word blends that you know of, or have come up with?

Comic Strip Thursday

Even though Tasha is on her spring break and won't be posting a comic of her own, I thought it would be nice to still have a comic this week. And since I am not a drawer, I found an old Pearls Before Swine comic for your enjoyment.

(click to view the entire comic)

Poll Number 5 Results

What kind of influence has spell check had on our knowledge of language?

4 people said positive influence.
1 person said neutral or no influence.
1 person said negative influence.

I was the lone dissenter who chose negative influence. Even though spell-check has made our lives easier, I think it has actually decreased our knowledge of language. With spell-checker, we don't have to bother with learning how to spell words and we spend less time reflecting on our word choice, because we think that the spell-checker will catch our errors. I believe this is negatively influencing our knowledge of language.

Which influence did you choose, and why?

Word Buzz Friday

I was writing something last week on Twitter, I believe, when I used the word snarf without thinking. Amanda responded that she liked the sound of it. What did it mean? I replied that it must mean throw up or vomit, because that's the only context I've ever heard it used in. She twittered back that it looks like sneeze + barf= snarf. Genius!

Then, I did some research and found this. However, if you are like me, you rarely ever click on links. So the best of the definitions is here:

snarf

/snarf/ 1. To grab, especially to grab a large document or
file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's
permission.

See also BLT.

2. (Unix) To fetch a file or set of files across a network.

See also blast.

3. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms or
politesse (but not quite by stealing). "They were giving away
samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them."

4. Synonym for slurp. "This program starts by snarfing the
entire database into core."

5. (GEnie) To spray food or programming fluids due to
laughing at the wrong moment. This sense appears to be
widespread among mundane teenagers - ESR.

6. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning "to eat
piggishly". It may still have this connotation in context.

7. A creature on the Thundercats, fond of eating, usually
covertly.

Who knew that snarf had sooo many meanings???

A quick anecdote!

First of all, I apologize for not posting a comic last week - I had a nasty cold. That and homework means no comic this week, and two weeks of spring break wandering through Europe means I'm putting my weekly post on hiatus until late April - I know, I just started this thing! What am I thinking? I hope to come back with plenty of fresh ideas to amuse you with.

Now it's story time...
I know I've mentioned in my comic how often my accent is misconstrued - I blame it on living so many places that I'm not sure how I'm supposed to sound anymore. Even talking with other Americans I'm told I sound Canadian. I don't mind, I'm even considering going there for grad school. So I've gotten to the point where I go somewhere with English speakers and expect it.

So what do I most definitely not expect? Well, that would be the things that a cold apparently does to my voice. I was slightly sick two weekends ago when I went to Edinburgh - wasn't about to cancel the tickets! So whilst wandering about the city, I stopped in a coffee shop to kill time and warm up, ordering my black coffee and chatting with the barista as he pours it.
"So, what brings you here from Australia?"


By the by, I may still be updating my travel blog so feel free to check it out.