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[The English Language] Etymology, Words, Phrases, Dialects and other fascinating things
Lucascraft
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I find language to be fascinating. Specifically, the English language, which is much like the Borg of Star Trek. It assimilates and makes other words its own, adapting and changing all the time. I took a class in college called "American English" which was probably my most favorite class ever. The class was about the language itself. Word history. Dialects. Slang. Regional sayings, phrases, and pronunciations. It was a fun class just to learn random trivia about words.
I've wanted to make this thread for a while. A thread where we can discuss all things related to the English Language. Does a certain phrase confuse you? Want to discuss its meaning with other people on the internet? Lets use this as a place to have an intelligent conversation about words.
Here are a few simple references to help with basic understanding:
dictionary.com
thesaurus.com
urbandictionary.com
There's also a thing called the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED for short, which is one of my favorite books/resources of all time. Unfortunately the website requires paid membership to access it. While I was a student, I had the privilege of a free paid membership. I used the hell out of it. Being able to look up a word, find out things such as the earliest recorded usage of the word, its various definitions, with dates of when that definition came into existence, and all sorts of other things is just the best. Simply the best.
I had a conversation just tonight with a friend, who stated that she was "plum tired." I've heard the phrase before, but I decided to google it and see what I could learn. It turns out, its actually spelled "plumb" and as best as I can tell, the phrase itself uses the word plumb as an intensifier of sorts. A plumb-line is a tool used to measure the depth of something. Another phrase, "plumb deep" means something is really deep. And from there, as best as I can tell, "plumb" evolved into a word which is basically synonymous with "really." Crazy how something can originate as a metaphor and turn into an accepted figure of speech.
On the topic of figures of speech, one major difference between American English and British English (other than the accent/pronunciation) is all of the figures of speech we use in our daily conversations. In America, we use TONS of baseball metaphors. "Knock it out of the park" "Swing for the fences" "Getting to third base" etc. I personally am not much of a baseball fan, but I still will occasionally find myself using phrases which originated in the game, simply because its an accepted cultural way of talking. Its been socially bred into me.
So anyway, enough rambling for this OP. Lets talk about words!
I've wanted to make this thread for a while. A thread where we can discuss all things related to the English Language. Does a certain phrase confuse you? Want to discuss its meaning with other people on the internet? Lets use this as a place to have an intelligent conversation about words.
Here are a few simple references to help with basic understanding:
dictionary.com
thesaurus.com
urbandictionary.com
There's also a thing called the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED for short, which is one of my favorite books/resources of all time. Unfortunately the website requires paid membership to access it. While I was a student, I had the privilege of a free paid membership. I used the hell out of it. Being able to look up a word, find out things such as the earliest recorded usage of the word, its various definitions, with dates of when that definition came into existence, and all sorts of other things is just the best. Simply the best.
I had a conversation just tonight with a friend, who stated that she was "plum tired." I've heard the phrase before, but I decided to google it and see what I could learn. It turns out, its actually spelled "plumb" and as best as I can tell, the phrase itself uses the word plumb as an intensifier of sorts. A plumb-line is a tool used to measure the depth of something. Another phrase, "plumb deep" means something is really deep. And from there, as best as I can tell, "plumb" evolved into a word which is basically synonymous with "really." Crazy how something can originate as a metaphor and turn into an accepted figure of speech.
On the topic of figures of speech, one major difference between American English and British English (other than the accent/pronunciation) is all of the figures of speech we use in our daily conversations. In America, we use TONS of baseball metaphors. "Knock it out of the park" "Swing for the fences" "Getting to third base" etc. I personally am not much of a baseball fan, but I still will occasionally find myself using phrases which originated in the game, simply because its an accepted cultural way of talking. Its been socially bred into me.
So anyway, enough rambling for this OP. Lets talk about words!
Lucascraft on
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DAN: There's such a word as disheveled, but "sheveled" is nowhere to be found in the dictionary.
CASEY: Danny...
DAN: I'm just sayin' English sucks.
Esoteric
Because the word itself is esoteric.
Sesquipedalian
Turgid
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Moist.
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
it was a few years ago, only 3 weeks long and I've forgotten most of it. But occasionally I notice myself slipping into my northeast/philadelphia habits.
like putting the word 'anymore' at the end, or really anywhere, in a sentence. It doesn't really belong there, it really doesn't fit at all, but I do it anyway. (also I use 'anyways' a lot)
I don't know where I picked the habit up, but I've been talking like that forever.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Wodehouse is fantastic.
I wish I'd been a valet in the naughts to the Idle Rich.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
I treat the language as an aesthetic beauty, both in textual and aural form. For one example, I am obsessive about never ending sentences with prepositions - but it's not for grammatical adherence, it simply does not flow well. I have zero shame about flagrantly eschewing the rules of grammar for a sentence that reads or sounds more prettily. It's the poet in me, I suppose.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
Syzygy is good
Oojah-cum-spiff is pretty awesome (as are most variants of oojah); Wodehouse got a lot of use out of it. http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ooj1.htm
John Allison seems to have a particular fondness for odds bits of dialect in Scarygoround; nang and pash are two I thought I'd never see used in contempory works. http://www.scarygoround.com/?date=20120403
But then that's sort of my thing. I've been accused of "trying to sound smart", but really I just enjoy words and try to use the most apt in a given situation. Oftentimes a more obscure word will have a more precise meaning that suits what I'm trying to say.
Some of my favourite words:
audacity
chagrin
sobriquet
oyez!
panache
ubiquitous.. which I use far too often and I swear that's not meant to be a pun.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
(although I like the word "pedantry" and all its various forms)
Speaking of:
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
Mainly because I think both are pretty.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
Where my prepositions at?!
If you weren't aware, I enjoy my local dialect. :P
circumloquacious
where my gerunds at
parenthetical
you can get a lot of work out of the word goetia
also obligatory callipygian and bathycolpian
I also have a penchant for any words descended from nautical slang. Even when the word's probably not ACTUALLY from nautical slang, I don't care, it's great anyway.
At Loggerheads
son of a gun (screw you snopes)
three sheets to the wind
learning the ropes
slush fund
Also: that "room to swing a cat" is NOT nautically based, is not referring to a cat o' nine tails, and is in fact apparently genuinely referring to swinging cats.
But "the cat's out of the bag" is one.
dont do it man
Yes, you took their words and then used them wrong, which makes it incredibly annoying. And I don't even mean cute things like using "à la mode" to mean "with ice cream".
Seriously, calling the main course the entrée? That doesn't strike anybody as incredibly stupid? Shame on you all!
Obviously in God's language we never, ever steal and then misuse words. Never. Would not dream of it.
dear mother of god how do you get "biscuit" so very wrong. you dont even cook the fucking thing twice
Also I like pretty much any British slang, but despite being a giant Anglophile the main reason I use the 'ou' spelling is because I think it looks nicer. I go back and forth on 're'/'er'.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
But then I realised I do like metalanguage: synecdoche, metonymy, ergative, trochee, dactyl, bilabial plosive, velar fricative, acceptability, deixis...
I really love finding that there's a technical term for an aspect of language that I've seen but never isolated before. And once I learn the term, I see it all the time.
That's fun.
My poor kids are going to sound like crazy people.
Yay velar fricative: scouse as fuck.