Tag: language update
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Random language note
Reading one of Burge’s pieces on the categories of non-religious people, churched vs unchurched, believing vs non-believing, praying vs non-praying, I thought: I’m a prayer, not a believer. I’m not sure if there are any gods, but I spend a lot of time and effort praying to them. Oops! Language isn’t logic. When you believe…
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Dammit, it’s not the output 2
Last week I noted that people were trying to sound “more human” by varying their vocabulary and grammar. I predicted that Altman’s coders would quickly counteract this tactic by adding more variation. A couple days later a Verge item revealed that Altman’s coders were already working on it. I’m more concerned with the input theft…
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Good question about learning
Quora sometimes has a question worth thinking about. Do people need to forget old things so they can learn new things (new knowledge)? First impulse: Yes, especially with skills. When you’ve mastered an inefficient process or poor word usage or poor posture, you need to abandon the old movements or shapes to get into the…
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Why Hank?
Thinking as usual about Henry Ford. A few very old friends were allowed to call him Hank. I’ve called him Hank in the Hank vs Frank comparison. Wait. How did Henry shorten to Hank? Harry is the more obvious phonetic elision, and the many King Henrys were often called King Harry in literature and song.…
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Book didn’t disappoint 2
Continuing random observations on the wonderful Field Guide to American Houses. In the 70s when I worked as a typesetter, I noticed two unavoidable typos. These two words, Commerical and Sante Fe, are unambiguous. Unlike us[e]able or Pittsburg[h], these have only one possible spelling, but the incorrect version is irresistible. Even carefully edited history books…
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Random linguistic[s] question
Why are some traditional subjects plural in form? Most ic words are plural in form and singular in meaning. Physics, mathematics, electronics, linguistics, politics, statistics. And within physics, mechanics and statics and hydrodynamics. When those words are used as adjectives, they’re singular or add al. With al: physical, mathematical, political, statistical, mechanical. Without al: linguistic,…
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Tiring words
The most tiring word this year is AGENCY. All the fashionable “intellectuals” are using AGENCY in every sentence. It has no meaning. Substack’s news feed is cheap and predictable. Lots of big tech money supports Substack. They could afford better AI. Of course the news is pure DNC talking points, which is the sole meaning…
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Word we haven’t heard
I’m grinding along with ADA additions to two separate courseware packages. Got one package done, starting on the second. I can move forward a bit faster now, partly because my routine is established and partly because the intro material is similar. In the first few lessons I can just copy the description from the same…
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Free as in
The “investigator” types finally got what they wanted in the Epstein mess. Now they’re shockedshockedshocked to find that the vast majority of pages are redacted and blank. Assuming here that the “investigators” are naive (not bloody likely!), they’re misinterpreting one word. They think the F in FOIA means Free as in Free Speech. In fact…
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Was she the first to say it?
I’m rereading Pat Foster’s book on the Nash Metropolitan, written in 1996. The book prominently features an interview with Evelyn Ay, Miss America in 1954. She was the official ambassador for the Ambassador and the official revealer of the Metropolitan. From my previous item on the subject: Transcribing the corporate part: The relationship with Nash…
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Linked discoveries
NewScientist summarizes a neatly constructed experiment on the parallels between birds and humans. Cuckoos and a few related species are brood parasites. They lay their eggs in other nests and let other birds raise their kids. The researchers noticed birds making a unique ‘whining’ sound when brood parasites were around. Other members of the species,…
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First sighting!
Found in the Engrish area of Reddit. First sighting anywhere on the net! Ðe original instructions are in ICELANDIC, and ðe English translation is dubious. Icelandic never appears on ðe web. Ðe letters shared wiþ Anglo-Saxon make it stand out immediately. Later, I guess the rarity makes sense numerically. Iceland’s population is 400k, about the…
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Random language notes
1. Spam email from Grammarly: Apply to Jobs With Confidence. Sorry, I don’t have confidence in a grammar and style app that thinks ‘apply to jobs’ is preferable, and doesn’t capitalize consistently. You ‘apply for jobs’ and you ‘apply to General Motors’. (If you had good afterlife connections you might ‘apply to Jobs’ for a…
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Today is & day!
Time to reprint again the genuine history of the symbol, which doesn’t match the standard etymology. = = = = = START REPRINT: I’ve always been bothered by the bizarre-sounding etymology of Ampersand. The symbol itself is no mystery: just a stylized version of et. But the usual etymology for the name doesn’t make a…
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Error bar and tense
My reading at Substack has pretty much reduced to one writer, Del Mastro. I was reading him before he moved to Substack, and he’s still worth reading. Today’s article observes that we tend to view short increments of time or distance as “within tolerance” or “within NOW”. An activity that takes a few more minutes…
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