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An Odd Coincidence
Dec. 16th, 2019 04:37 pmI'm currently reading _No Name_, a novel by the 19th century author Wilkie Collins (better known for _The Moonstone_ and _The Woman in White_). One of the characters has come to the bedside of a gravely ill friend, and is trying to comfort her, reassuring her that he is here to protect and revive her. In his boastful speech to that effect, he cries, "Dum vivimus, vivamus". (He immediately apologies for his pedantry.)
What's odd is that I've encountered that saying ("While we live, let us live!") exactly once before, in Robert Heinlein's rather odd fantasy/science fiction novel _Glory Road_. There, the hero used it to propose to his lady-love. (Also oddly, this was in midbook; much happened afterward, to the detriment of their marriage.)
Collins and Heinlein are not two authors I would think of in the same breath, but there you are.
What's odd is that I've encountered that saying ("While we live, let us live!") exactly once before, in Robert Heinlein's rather odd fantasy/science fiction novel _Glory Road_. There, the hero used it to propose to his lady-love. (Also oddly, this was in midbook; much happened afterward, to the detriment of their marriage.)
Collins and Heinlein are not two authors I would think of in the same breath, but there you are.
There is now a Klingon version of "Never Gonna Give You Up".
Back in the mid-70s, I took a couple of linguistics classes from Marc Okrand, the man who later developed the Klingon language - Intro to Linguistics, and a survey course on California NA languages. I remember him as being a nice guy.
Back in the mid-70s, I took a couple of linguistics classes from Marc Okrand, the man who later developed the Klingon language - Intro to Linguistics, and a survey course on California NA languages. I remember him as being a nice guy.
Nostalgia Rebuke
Sep. 24th, 2019 03:44 pmFor a long time, I wanted a copy of Neil Diamond's first album, but I couldn't find the CD anywhere. It turns out that it was never released on CD. However, recently the contents of his first two albums were released on a single CD, "The Bang Years", which I now have and am listening to.
Just a quick note: one of the songs is "Red Red Wine", a song about a guy who, having broken up with his lady friend, has fallen into the bottle. Not particularly interesting, except for the fact that he pronounces "wine" as "whine", with the full voiceless approximant (the one that some people use to distinguish, e.g., "whither" from "wither").
I can see no explanation for this except, maybe, overcorrection. (That's the same phenomenon that produces "Missourah", in an overreaction to "tobaccy" and such.) It just sounds weird.
Just a quick note: one of the songs is "Red Red Wine", a song about a guy who, having broken up with his lady friend, has fallen into the bottle. Not particularly interesting, except for the fact that he pronounces "wine" as "whine", with the full voiceless approximant (the one that some people use to distinguish, e.g., "whither" from "wither").
I can see no explanation for this except, maybe, overcorrection. (That's the same phenomenon that produces "Missourah", in an overreaction to "tobaccy" and such.) It just sounds weird.
Missing a Word
Sep. 17th, 2019 06:43 pmOne day you hear a song that you really like. You do some poking around and identify the singer, whom, to your knowledge, you've never heard of, or at least never heard. You buy an album for the sake of that song, and discover to your surprise that you've heard (and liked) three or four other songs by that singer.
The song is not literally the first song you've heard by them, but, in a sense, it is.
I'm not aware of any adverb which adequately describes that sense. (It can apply equally well to other arts than music; literature, certainly, but probably also sculpture, painting, even architecture. It could perhaps extend even further; envision a doer of deeds, whose actions have benefited you, all unknowing, until the day you perceive and recognize a thing they've done.)
Any thoughts?
The song is not literally the first song you've heard by them, but, in a sense, it is.
I'm not aware of any adverb which adequately describes that sense. (It can apply equally well to other arts than music; literature, certainly, but probably also sculpture, painting, even architecture. It could perhaps extend even further; envision a doer of deeds, whose actions have benefited you, all unknowing, until the day you perceive and recognize a thing they've done.)
Any thoughts?
Back and Forth
Sep. 10th, 2019 09:13 amIf you write dates the USAn way, this is palindrome week-and-a-half; every day from today until the 19th is palindromic. (9/10/19, 9/11/19, ...) There won't be another of these until early in the next century.
Make Up Your Mind!
Sep. 1st, 2019 04:08 amI can deal with the British English use of the plural form of verbs when the subject is semantically plural but syntactically singular: "The government are..." and so forth.
But when the BBC puts up a headline like "Bahamas braces for category four Hurricane Dorian", I have to call shenanigans.
But when the BBC puts up a headline like "Bahamas braces for category four Hurricane Dorian", I have to call shenanigans.
Sooo, I went shopping today. I hadn't planned an Amazon run until I officially am back on the payroll, but LMB had to put out a new Penric story...
E-books: LMB, "The Orphans of Raspay"; Michael Collins, "Carrying the Fire (50th Anniversary Edition)"; Ben Aaronovitch, "Broken Homes"; Genevieve Cogman, "The Invisible Library"; Elizabeth Peters, "Crocodile on the Sandbank" (yes, I'm finally starting on the Amelia Peabody series); James A. Corey, "Abaddon's Gate".
Dead trees: Alice R. Gaby, "A Grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre" (my semi-annual dose of linguistics); Brian Vaughan, "Saga, Vol. 3"; Bill Willingham, "Rose Red (Fables Vol. 15)".
Music: Neil Diamond, "The Bang Years 1966-1968", Londonbeat, "Greatest Hits"
Should be fun.
E-books: LMB, "The Orphans of Raspay"; Michael Collins, "Carrying the Fire (50th Anniversary Edition)"; Ben Aaronovitch, "Broken Homes"; Genevieve Cogman, "The Invisible Library"; Elizabeth Peters, "Crocodile on the Sandbank" (yes, I'm finally starting on the Amelia Peabody series); James A. Corey, "Abaddon's Gate".
Dead trees: Alice R. Gaby, "A Grammar of Kuuk Thaayorre" (my semi-annual dose of linguistics); Brian Vaughan, "Saga, Vol. 3"; Bill Willingham, "Rose Red (Fables Vol. 15)".
Music: Neil Diamond, "The Bang Years 1966-1968", Londonbeat, "Greatest Hits"
Should be fun.
Words, Words, Words
May. 22nd, 2019 02:02 pmThis lovely Language Log article contains a list of German words, some of which have been, and the rest ought to be, imported into English. (#1 has been calqued; #9 and #13 have been borrowed; and #5 is a feeling I'm all too familiar with.)
"Liar, liar, pants on fire..."
What's the next line? I remember it as "Couldn't get over the telephone wire!" (Or maybe it's "Can't".) But I just saw someone give it as "hanging on a telephone wire".
So which do people remember? Or is there another variant out there?
What's the next line? I remember it as "Couldn't get over the telephone wire!" (Or maybe it's "Can't".) But I just saw someone give it as "hanging on a telephone wire".
So which do people remember? Or is there another variant out there?
Memories...
Feb. 21st, 2019 07:10 pmI was born in Augsburg, in what was then West Germany; my father was stationed there at the time. We left when I was about two years old, so I have no memories of it. (One of these days I'll do the tourist thing again, and Germany will be on the list.)
The family did come away with some souvenirs, including some linguistic ones, bastardized German phrases that became part of our family language. ("Idiolect" is the word for one's own specific habits of speech; there ought to be one for a family's.) One that I remember, we used with the meaning "It doesn't matter" or "I don't care"; I recall it as "mox nix", but of course that's a monoglot child's interpretation. Nowadays I know a little German, but not enough to confidently reconstruct the original. Presumably "machen" and "nicht", in some form or another, are involved.
I know there are people who follow me who know more German than I do. What could the original phrase have been, bitte?
The family did come away with some souvenirs, including some linguistic ones, bastardized German phrases that became part of our family language. ("Idiolect" is the word for one's own specific habits of speech; there ought to be one for a family's.) One that I remember, we used with the meaning "It doesn't matter" or "I don't care"; I recall it as "mox nix", but of course that's a monoglot child's interpretation. Nowadays I know a little German, but not enough to confidently reconstruct the original. Presumably "machen" and "nicht", in some form or another, are involved.
I know there are people who follow me who know more German than I do. What could the original phrase have been, bitte?
Son of Khan
Jan. 5th, 2019 08:26 amThis I did not know; I learned it courtesy of a comment by SFReader, in response to a Language Hat post on the name "Ben Hur".
The wife of Temujin (later called Genghis Khan), Borte, was kidnapped by the Merkit tribe. He responded by assembling a coalition of other Mongol tribes and defeating the Merkits. His wife, when freed, was pregnant. Soon afterward, she gave birth to a child, Temujin's first, who was given the name "Juchi", a word meaning "guest" or "the unexpected one". Like most Mongols, Juchi had dark hair; but Temujin, like the rest of his clan, was blond. Temujin accepted Juchi as his son; but when his second son was born, blond like his father, the child was given the name "Chagaatai", which may be translated as "Whitey".
(It may be worth noting that primogeniture was not the custom among the Mongols; lateral succession and ultimogeniture were more common.)
The wife of Temujin (later called Genghis Khan), Borte, was kidnapped by the Merkit tribe. He responded by assembling a coalition of other Mongol tribes and defeating the Merkits. His wife, when freed, was pregnant. Soon afterward, she gave birth to a child, Temujin's first, who was given the name "Juchi", a word meaning "guest" or "the unexpected one". Like most Mongols, Juchi had dark hair; but Temujin, like the rest of his clan, was blond. Temujin accepted Juchi as his son; but when his second son was born, blond like his father, the child was given the name "Chagaatai", which may be translated as "Whitey".
(It may be worth noting that primogeniture was not the custom among the Mongols; lateral succession and ultimogeniture were more common.)
What's It Called?
Dec. 28th, 2018 09:32 pmIs there a name for the kind of "dive" you see in cartoons sometimes, where the diver jumps up and slightly forward from the edge of the pool, holds their nose and tucks their legs, and hits the water bottom first?
Why Did I Not Know This?
Nov. 13th, 2018 07:49 pmToday's Freefall strip, and the forum discussion it triggered, has introduced me to a new word: "zoomies". An excited dog, running around in, say, a back yard, for the sheer joy of running around has the zoomies. It also describes the behavior of a dog when its beloved owner comes home. (Winston doesn't own Florence, but he pushes the same buttons in her psyche.)
A good word. I shall add it to my vocabulary.
A good word. I shall add it to my vocabulary.
On Wednesday, I posted the second take-home midterm for my geometry class. I told them, as I had said before, that I would accept electronic or dead-tree versions of their work. The word "dead-tree" amused some of them, and I found myself explaining that "'dead-tree' is perfectly standard... slang". This amused them even more.
Oh, well. In a week's time, I will have my revenge for their laughter, just you wait.
Oh, well. In a week's time, I will have my revenge for their laughter, just you wait.
Books! Music! Movie!
Oct. 12th, 2018 08:10 pmWell, as promised, I paid a visit to Amazon today. The haul:
E-books: Larry Sabato's A More Perfect Constitution; David Reich's Who We Are and How We Got Here (about DNA studies and prehistory); Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow; Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet; James Alan Gardner's All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault; and the second, third, and second books in the Expanse (James Corey), Kitty Norville (Carrie Vaughn), and The Great Way (Harry Connolly) series respectively.
Dead tree books: Sarah Murray, The Semantics of Evidentials (linguistics); Bill Willingham, War and Pieces (continuing the Fables series); Edward Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire (I have his books on the Roman Empire and the Soviet Union).
Music: Joan Jett, "Greatest Hits"; Woody Guthrie, "100th Anniversary Collection"; Chad & Jeremy, "Yesterday's Gone"
DVD: "The Incredible Hulk (2008)". I'm gathering as much of the MCU as I can. Maybe a marathon Thanksgiving week.
E-books: Larry Sabato's A More Perfect Constitution; David Reich's Who We Are and How We Got Here (about DNA studies and prehistory); Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow; Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet; James Alan Gardner's All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault; and the second, third, and second books in the Expanse (James Corey), Kitty Norville (Carrie Vaughn), and The Great Way (Harry Connolly) series respectively.
Dead tree books: Sarah Murray, The Semantics of Evidentials (linguistics); Bill Willingham, War and Pieces (continuing the Fables series); Edward Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire (I have his books on the Roman Empire and the Soviet Union).
Music: Joan Jett, "Greatest Hits"; Woody Guthrie, "100th Anniversary Collection"; Chad & Jeremy, "Yesterday's Gone"
DVD: "The Incredible Hulk (2008)". I'm gathering as much of the MCU as I can. Maybe a marathon Thanksgiving week.
Courtesy of Howard Tayler: a Mexican ranch hand with limited English, after his first encounter with a Canada goose, came back and complained about the "cobra chicken".
That's a good name for the nasty buggers. There's a resident population on campus, and in spring warnings go out about how to behave around them.
That's a good name for the nasty buggers. There's a resident population on campus, and in spring warnings go out about how to behave around them.
Slips of the Tongue/Finger
Mar. 4th, 2018 07:50 amHere's an interesting article at Language Log, commenting on the (apparent) fact that slips of the tongue don't cross word-category boundaries ("She brought home a dog" might slip into "She brought home a duck" - or "a dock" - but not into "She brought home a drown"; nouns for nouns, not verbs for nouns), but writing/typing errors do cross the boundaries ("a corporate lawyer from The Down Chemical Company"). No one seems to have studied the reasons for this.
