Word Buzz Friday

The English language is constantly inventing new words and phrases. Some of them make sense and some of them are ridiculous. Urban dictionary tries to keep up with the thousands of new words and slang being created every year.

Some of their words for this week are:

Yellular: The loudness one adopts in response to a bad cell-phone connection, in the misguided hope that talking louder will improve the connection. "I'm so embarrassed. I went totally yellular at a restaurant last night." Laundry Limbo: Intentionally rewashing clothing simply because you don't feel like putting it away "I had a shirt I knew was clean, but I was too lazy to hang it up so I just kept it in laundry limbo"

I'm guilty of both of those! How about you?

Then, do you remember my post on calling women chicks? We found this from the comic strip Pearls Before Swine.

Ohkay, so here's da Minnesoda accent.. doncha know?

I was reading some of the comments on my last post and some of you seem to think that "Them ones wasn't what I was looking for!" is a regional dialect. It's very possible. I still maintain that it sounds horrible and, regional dialect or not that lady could try a little harder to speak properly. Anyways, I know how much everyone loves a good accent. Especially Sarah Palin's cute, folksy accent that she so famously slipped into when asked a difficult question. I found an article that traces her accent to the (you guessed it!) Minnesota north woods.

Then for your enjoyment, I found a video of Amy Walker who was on the Today Show and can effortlessly speak in 21 different accents.


Next, this is a video of a man doing his best Minnesotan accent. I find it hilarious, but he does swear a bit, so if you have any little ones around you might want to cover their ears.


Which accent was your favorite or least favorite? Is there an accent that you think makes a person sound more intelligent? What about less intelligent?

Then if you are wondering which American accent you have, take this little quiz.

Here are my results, j.i.c. you are curious. I can't believe they said I sounded like the movie Fargo. Of course I think those accents sound ridiculous.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The Midland
Boston
The West
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

How Battlestar Galactica Changed My Vocabulary

Ayo!

Based on an 70's show of the same name, Battlestar Galactica is an Emmy and Peabody-winning science fiction television show chronicling the struggle of the last surviving Humans against their mortal enemies, the Cylons.

Wait, wait, don't go! I know that might be a little too nerdy for you, but I'm just getting to the good stuff!

Battlestar Galactica is an intense, high brow show, but since it airs on basic cable's SciFi Channel, and can subsequently be broadcast on network television, there can be no extreme nudity or naughty language. While it is easy to skirt around certain nudity issues, it is much harder to get away with foul language on television.

So, what did the writers of Battlestar Galactica do, faced with such puritan choices? They created an entirely new word.

Frack.

Frack you. Frack your mom. What's the big fracking deal? Wanna frack? I was so fracked last night! I think you can guess which word it's replacing.

In the original 1970's series, frack was more of a descriptor of a person than a four letter expletive. In the new, re-imagined series, frack has every bit as much power as its counterpart, and has even garnered a real-life following. Well, at least with me and my sister, to say the least.

Now, I often find the word frack has more bite to it than the word it has replaced.

Even in social settings I have been known to squeeze out an occasional frack at the lack of variety at the food crafts table. "Frack this", I might mutter, at the thought of waiting in an extremely long line at the grocery store. This sends some into knowing chuckles while others will raise an eyebrow, having no clue as to the meaning of what I've just said. Ah, Nerdom. Such hidden power.

Frack will never replace the original word, of course, but it has a lifelong fan in me, and is a testament to how even a television show has the power to change language. Well, at least in me, anyway.

Oh, and if you haven't already, check out Battlestar Galactica every Friday at 9pm Eastern on the SciFi Channel, for frack's sake!

ETA

Just to note, in the original series, the word is spelled, "Frack." In the re-imagined series, it's spelled "frak".

Fake English?

Ayo!

Can you speak fake English?

That's the question a Youtuber called Crenquist asked his subscribers nearly two years ago, after giving them his own impressions of what French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish sound like to his non-native speaking ears.

The video is not meant to offend, nor reinforce stereotypes about the speakers of those languages, but is actually being used as "edutainment" piece. Not only is it a fun activity, but you can learn something from it. It offers a real glimpse into what certain languages sound like to non-native speakers.

We've all heard that English speakers have this retroflex "r" thing going on, that German has a biting edge, and that the French language sounds like a rush of syllables, but nothing is as honest as seeing another person from another part of the world imitate your language.

Here is Crenquist giving us his impression of 7 fake languages, each based on Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, German and Japanese.

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You can click around Youtube to watch other videos of people imitating what English sounds like to them. All of those videos are insightful, not to mention hilarious, but I will leave you with a cute young girl from Quebec. She really hits the nail on the head with the sounds and idosyncrasies of English phonetics.



Once I get my camera up and rolling, I will upload myself speaking fake Italian and fake Arabic. I invite all of you out there to do the same!

Until next time, peace out!

"Them ones wasn't what I was looking for"

That quote or the title or this post was overheard in Macy's from a lady shopping for jeans. She was explaining loudly to a third party on her cell phone that the jeans she recently bought weren't exactly what she wanted.

What she said instead was "Them ones wasn't what I was looking for." Okaaaaaaaaaaaaay... There are so many things wrong with that sentence. Where to begin?

1. Them ones. Them ones??? Really people??? Where do grammar mistakes like this begin? Are parents not reading to their children anymore? "Them" should never be uttered next to "ones".

Try using: "these" if the items are close to you or "those" if the items are farther away.

2. Them ones wasn't. Even my dictionary on the computer goes crazy with the squiggly red line when I type that. Why? You guessed it. Subject/verb agreement! Ones=Plural. However wasn't= singular. It never, ever sounds good to mix singular with plural in the same sentence. I don't care what the rap stars say. They are in the boardrooms for a reason!

Try using: "Weren't". In other words, use the plural form of the verb.

I never saw a mistake like with my students but it was a common error among my small town high school classmates. To me, it sounds worse than nails on a chalkboard and is just as offensive as if someone lit up a cigarette and blew it into my face.

And remember, subject/verb agreement is your friend!

Shitty Habit #1: Of vs. Have

Once upon a time in a small village called Grammarville, there lived two families. The Of family and the Have family. The Of family had three sons. Could, Should and Would. These three brothers were the bullies of the village, picking on any unfortunate soul. Their favorite victims however, were the Have brothers.

There were three brothers in the Have family also. Their names were Might, Ought to, and Must. They had been very sad ever since the Of brothers began picking on them two years ago.

One day while in English class, the Of boys were stricken down with a terrible case of the Grammar Plague. The Grammar Plague is a peculiar disease indeed! It strikes only those who have horrible grammar skills. And, boy, did those Of brothers have horrible grammar skills! Just by writing their full names they violated the Holy Book of Grammar!

The Have brothers felt no sympathy towards the Of brothers. Laughing, the Have brothers celebrated the Of brothers' misfortune. Everyone knew the Grammar Plague caused death in 100% of its victims.

The poor Of brothers died soon after contracting the Grammar Plague. They were sent to grammar Heck where they are currently changing their last names. The Have brothers story remains much happier. After the Of brothers died, the Have brother were no longer oppressed and could finally be known as the “Proper Grammar Boys.” They lived happily ever after.

The moral of this story is to use "have" after could, should, would, might, ought to and must in order to avoid Grammar Heck.

The Difference Between Squirrels and Chipmunks

For all of you Spanish speakers out there you must know the word ardilla. It is translated as squirrel in the dictionary. But wait, say that you get curious one day and you want to look up the word "Chipmunk", you will also see ardilla.

This was brought to my attention when the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks came out and my friend G. was referring to it as Alvin and the Squirrels. She insisted that a squirrel was the same a chipmunk and that I had it wrong. You see, in Spanish Alvin and the Chipmunks is
ALVIN Y LAS ARDILLAS!!!

Anyways, here is the difference between a squirrel and a chipmunk. G. claimed that the only reason I saw any difference at all between the two fuzzy rodents was because I'm from Minnesota and we make weird distinctions for animals. So. Not. True. They are different! Right?

SquirrelChipmunk

My Spanish Sucks Now

I go back to Chile in about 13 days. Yes, I started counting down weeks ago. There's just one little thing that worries me. My Spanish has been sucking something fierce. I was thinking yesterday, that I probably haven't spoken so little Spanish in a two month period since I started learning it, or at least since I've become more fluent. The only time I've been speaking-speaking is when I talk on Skype with L. He doesn't correct me much when I speak, but I notice the little errors as soon as they're out of my mouth. Then, in emails he sends me back the corrections.

It's not such a big deal, except that I am going to get SCREWED OVER by the taxi drivers. Especially because a typical response to "Take me to X place" is "Como? No te entiendo." (What? I don't understand you. To which I most always reply "Of course you understand me. I'm speaking to you in Spanish. Let me out!"

I just know that when I get to the airport I might have to haggle for a ride. I've had then down to 9,000 pesos before, which I think is good, but with this gringa accent thing I have going on now it's going to be 15,000.

Is calling women "chicks" derogatory?

I was talking to a friend online who is several years younger than me and I met, coincidentally, in a gym class. He was telling me about all of his great plans to meet "chicks", score with "chicks", watch "chicks" dance, and play beer pong with "chicks". After a couple of minutes of reading his non-stop stream of IMs, I interrupted and asked him if he though he would get more "chicks" by calling them something a little more female friendly. "Like what?" He asked.

That got me thinking that I had a student in Chile (who had a very cushy job in a big bank) who would always refer to women as "chicks" as well. On many occasions, I was tempted to correct him, but he was just so earnest about it and I found his misinformation sort of cute and I just couldn't correct him.

So, I pose the question, is it derogatory to call a grown woman a "chick" if you are a college sophomore? How about a Chilean businessman learning English?

Do I have an accent?

I went to the baby shower of my friend's brother's girlfriend. I don't know her family very well and there seem to be hundreds of them, so I stuck to my friend's side. Now, M. is a very good friend I've known for years. Yet, she is a little status conscious and kept introducing me as " This is Sara, my friend who live in South America."

At one point, a lady who was sitting next to me (a cousin I think) said "Oh! It makes sense now. I thought I detected a slight accent." What!?!?! I have an accent? Here my whole life I thought I had a cutsie sort of Minnesota twang, but apparently not. Maybe it's because I try soooo hard to not let my accent slip out. Seriously, it only comes out when I'm under pressure like "Durnitt, I'm lost dontcha know?"

Anyways, I think that I should take advantage of this. It's not the first time I've been told I have an accent. Or maybe, I should just stop worrying and revel in my accent ambiguity.

Miyaunna, checking in!

Ayo!

In my neck of the woods, that means, "Hey, you!". This is my first venture into group blogging, and I can say that I am ready to have some fun along the way!

I'm a pretty outgoing Midwestern girl, currently teaching English and (half-arsed) French in Tokyo, Japan. I love languages, and so far, they seem to love me...although I've never really asked. I am a native English speaker, but also spoke a little AAVE and Louisiana French (thanks to my late Grandma who thought it was *just adorable* hearing us swear in another language) while growing up.

In college, I studied Film, Linguistics and International Relations but spent most of my time getting into philosophical arguments with my friends while simultaneously drowning out my rowdy next door neighbors with my Amadou et Miriam CD.

When not ranting about some linguistic rarity, I can be found with a film camera and a microphone or can be caught strumming my guitar next to my twin sister as we both veg out on my couch. You can also check up on me at my blog.

During my time here at Language Nerds, I will write on the origins of language, upload videos and interviews of second generation speakers and try to generally explore all the oddities and idiosyncrasies of the English language.

I speak English, Spanish, am pretty good at Portuguese and French, and have had varying degrees of experience with Arabic, Chinese, and German. Drop me a line in any of these languages and we'll see what I come up with!

I hope you'll join me and maybe we just might figure this whole "language thing" out.

Stay tuned!

I'm Kyle?

A quick summary of my life: I was born & raised in Minnesota, been here my entire life, I did insanely well in high school, went to the U of Minnesota but hated it (the school part anyway), dropped out after 3 years, got a job that I've now been at for almost 3 years, and I've been going back to school slowly but surely at a nearby community college for a few years now.

I like to believe I have a pretty firm grasp of the English language. I got A's in around 98.7% of my English classes, and I've always been told that I am a good writer. Not that I could write as a living or anything - I just know how to not make mistakes (usually). I never "liked" English classes, but I never "liked" much of anything we were forced to do in school really. Except lunch and gym class, of course.

I've played my fair share of online video games, so I've been exposed to some of the worst grammar and spelling in the world. It amazes me sometimes how some people just plain suck at using the English language. I know that internet-English isn't the same as English-English (what with the acronyms, half-sentences, and extreme lack of punctuation), but it's statements like "I could care less" that always make me want to reply, "How much less could you care? Maybe you could care less to the point where, say, I don't know, you couldn't care less, which is what you meant to say in the first place?" That's usually when they reply with, "Huh? Oh, uh, I don't care." And then I reply with, "Exactly."

That's all. Hi, nice to be here. :-)

Ich heiße Amanda

For as long as I can remember, I have usually had my head stuck in a book, and though my mother has told me that she used to have to force me to read, I cannot remember this. Instead, I remember unsuccessfully trying to smuggle books into church by sticking them up my sleeve. At a time when most kids my age were getting in trouble for not reading, I would repeatedly get in trouble for reading when I was supposed to be doing other things. As I grew older, I also developed an interest in both writing and learning foreign language.

I've been a language nerd for a long time now, but have never fully embraced it until recently. Even though I majored in German while in college, I saw this merely as a fondness for foreign language, and after graduating, had narrowed my job search to German related jobs. Not too surprisingly there was nothing to be found. Convinced I needed a more specific set of skills, I went back to school for computers. That lasted about half a semester. It was at this time that I realized I had a passion for language, and a desire to devote my professional life to it. The language nerd in me was finally beginning to surface.

I have since applied for graduate school for teaching English as a second language, enrolled in an introduction to linguistics course, and begun to volunteer for a local ESL program. I have come to realize just how important language is in our lives, whether we love language or hate it, and this blog is my way of trying to share my passion with the world. I've assembled fellow language nerds, and urged them to share with you their adventures in and with language.

Nice to Meet You! Un Gusto Conocerte!

I'm Sara. I have another blog, but when Amanda asked me if I would be interested in joining this blog, I said yes immediately. I have been a self described language nerd since I learned how to talk, which was younger than some of my daycare going peers.

In high school I excelled in Spanish and German, plus my creative writing classes. When I got to college I decided to chose a major that I loved and was easy, so I studied more Spanish and German.

The Spanish is a part of my daily life now as I balance my life between the United States and Chile. The German sadly is not, and I fear my German would come out like two year old with cotton candy in his mouth.

For seven months, I lived in Santiago, Chile teaching English. It made me realize how fortunate I am to have been born speaking English because if I hadn't I probably would never learn it. English, like French is not phonetic and that drives me crazy. It's why my Spanish speaking students doubted me when I told them about spelling bees. Why would anybody stage a competition around spelling when it's sooo easy? They had forgotten for a moment their own struggles to spell and pronounce some of our more difficult English words.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I am any expert in language. I know next to nothing about phonetics, linguistics, syntax, and grammar. However, I do live most of my life in two languages: English which I think in and Spanish which comes out of my mouth. It's a a constant struggle and one I hope to write more about in the future as I move to Santiago (again) indefinitely.

Saludos!

Calling All Language Nerds

If you would like to write for our blog, please send Amanda Lynn an email at languagenerds [at] yahoo [dot] com expressing your interest. In your email, please include what you would like to contribute to the blog. As we gain more writers, we will become more selective, as we will be looking to fill roles that we currently do not have. Before we consider you as a contributor, we may also ask you to submit to us an example of what you have to offer. New ideas and suggestions are strongly encouraged!