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Language oddities and funnies

Started by Dave, June 12, 2017, 04:39:42 PM

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Arturo

#30
Ostracize was the one. Thank you to you two!
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

joeactor

Quote from: Arturo on August 11, 2017, 10:21:07 PM
What is the word when you are kicked out of a society or group of people? (Not excommunicated)

Banished? Shunned?

Dave

Daily Mail, Wednesday, January 17, 1996


Straight talk


ENGLISH having been chosen as its preferred language, the EU is studying ways of improving communications efficiency.

European officials have often pointed out that English spelling is unnecessarily difficult; cough, plough, rough, through, for example.

A phased programme of changes is needed to iron out anomalies. In the first year the committee would suggest using 's' instead of the soft 'c'. Sivil servants in all sities would reseive this news with joy. Then the hard 'c' could be replaced by 'k'.

Not only would this klear up konfusion in the minds of klerikal workers, but typewriters kould be made with one fewer letter.

In the sekond year, it would be announsed that the troublesome 'ph' would henseforth be written 'f', making words like 'fotograf' 20 per cent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reash the stage when more komplikated shanges are possible.

Government would enkourage the removal of double leters which have always been a deterent to akurate speling.

We would al agre that the horibIe mes of silent e's in the languag is disgrasful. We kould drop thes and kontinu to read and writ as though nothing had hapend.

By this tim peopl would be reseptiv to steps sutsh as replasing 'th' by 'z'. and ze funktion of 'w' kould be taken on by 'v' vitsh is, after al, half a 'w'. Shortly after zis ze unesesary 'o' kould dropd from words kontaining 'ou', and in mani suwords ze 'l' kud go az vel. Ozer words viz 'ough' wud end viz a simpl 'o', u, ov, uv ets.

Similar arguments vud of kors be aplid tu ozer kombinashons of leters.

Kontinuing zis proses yer after yer, ve vud eventuli hav a reli sensibl riten styl.

After tventi yers zer vud be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vud find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.


PETER JONES, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan.

Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Icarus

^ An odious idea but the demonstration is a work of art as well as the result of some effort.

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Gloucester on August 17, 2017, 07:21:48 PM
Daily Mail, Wednesday, January 17, 1996


Straight talk


ENGLISH having been chosen as its preferred language, the EU is studying ways of improving communications efficiency.

European officials have often pointed out that English spelling is unnecessarily difficult; cough, plough, rough, through, for example.

A phased programme of changes is needed to iron out anomalies. In the first year the committee would suggest using 's' instead of the soft 'c'. Sivil servants in all sities would reseive this news with joy. Then the hard 'c' could be replaced by 'k'.

Not only would this klear up konfusion in the minds of klerikal workers, but typewriters kould be made with one fewer letter.

In the sekond year, it would be announsed that the troublesome 'ph' would henseforth be written 'f', making words like 'fotograf' 20 per cent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reash the stage when more komplikated shanges are possible.

Government would enkourage the removal of double leters which have always been a deterent to akurate speling.

We would al agre that the horibIe mes of silent e's in the languag is disgrasful. We kould drop thes and kontinu to read and writ as though nothing had hapend.

By this tim peopl would be reseptiv to steps sutsh as replasing 'th' by 'z'. and ze funktion of 'w' kould be taken on by 'v' vitsh is, after al, half a 'w'. Shortly after zis ze unesesary 'o' kould dropd from words kontaining 'ou', and in mani suwords ze 'l' kud go az vel. Ozer words viz 'ough' wud end viz a simpl 'o', u, ov, uv ets.

Similar arguments vud of kors be aplid tu ozer kombinashons of leters.

Kontinuing zis proses yer after yer, ve vud eventuli hav a reli sensibl riten styl.

After tventi yers zer vud be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vud find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.


PETER JONES, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan.

Kol! I kan stil red it!
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

Quote from: Icarus on August 18, 2017, 01:05:30 AM
^ An odious idea but the demonstration is a work of art as well as the result of some effort.

That is what I appreciated about it. From experience one has to "proof read" such many times to get it right! Glad I found it on the archive drive whilst looking for something else.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Reminds me of Yiddish versus German.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

#37
This does not quite fit this thread but don't want to start a new one.

just got back to reading Bill Bryson's ''The Mother Tounge'', a history of the English language. We think language is changing fast now but it seems this has always been so.

There is a document, a yearly account of life written by monks, called ''The Peterborough Chronicle.'' due to political and other reasons they did not record the events between 1131 and 1154 - a mere 23 yars. but in that short time the English they wrote had changed dramatically - it had lost all its gendres and its Anglo-Saxon grammatical forms to become a much simpler language.

In the 22 years between the death of Geoffrey Chaucer (in 1400) and the birth of William Caxton there was another dramatic change. We went from:

QuoteWhen that Aprille with his shoures sote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote
And bathed everveyne in swich licour
Of which verture engendered is the flour'
(Prologue to ''The Canterbury Tales'')

to:

QuoteI was sittyng in my study [when] to my hand came a lytle booke in frenshe, which late was translated out of latyn by some noble clerke of fraunce...
(An entry in William Caxton's journal.)

As Chaucer goes the first is actually not a good example of his English for this argument, too easy, but Caxton's piece hardly causes any delay in reading and understanding.

The book has oodles (1900C American, of unknown origin) of interesting stuff such as although the ratio of Anglo-Saxon to Norman French words in use today is about 1:100 almost half the words in any sample of English will still be Anglo-Saxon in origin. They are the common words; and, to, but, for, at, in, on, and the ''base'' words like mother, father, sister, brother, king, queen, water,  etc. English was the peasant language (under the Norman's, whom, it seems, did try hard to learn it) that came to conquer the world.

Most prefer a ''friendly welcome'' to a ''cordial reception''. the first is down to earth, the second sounds ''posh'', pretentious.

PS: Bryson later says that no original Chaucerian manuscripts survive, all we see is multiple mangled monkish copies - where the spellings, and even the words and their meanings, vary from version to version.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

I love etymology. I think someone from even as recent as 1930 would find it hard to understand much of our exchanges in this forum. Have you tried to read the Old English in Beowulf?
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on September 05, 2017, 02:31:05 PM
I love etymology. I think someone from even as recent as 1930 would find it hard to understand much of our exchanges in this forum. Have you tried to read the Old English in Beowulf?

Several times! As the years have gone on I have understood more but the grammar still defeats me.

I am constantly hitting the etymology sites. Currently I have over 20 dictionaries (some specialist, one over 100 years old) and other books on words. The change of usage and meaning of words over time is fascinating.

Actually I gave my A-S/English dictionary (plus a bunch of other books) to a local self-employed consulting/peripatetic teacher recently. She is researching the A-S in this area as a specialist subject to offer schools. Despite my interest I rarely use the books now, they will be a good resource for her. Rather they be used than gather dust. She has also taken over all the stuff we put together for the local history project, that has languished in my attic for twenty odd years.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

I can read German and Dutch and love to see connections with English in those languages.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on September 05, 2017, 03:16:37 PM
I can read German and Dutch and love to see connections with English in those languages.

As in:
"de kat zat op de mat" ?

I can almost read Frisian, but can't find a Frisian/English translator. Most of the Germanic language group share sounds as well as spellings.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

I heard a nice story about James Joyce, who admired Ibsen so much that he learned Norwegian with the sole purpose of telling Ibsen in his own language how much he loved his work. I must say I agree - the Ibsen plays are some of my favourites.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

One for you, Hermes. I suddenly thought of the word "poppycock" (with immediate jokey thoughts about the genitalia of flowers) and decided to look it up.

Guess who we stole it from!

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.


(I fear this "word popping" and the instant need for a definition or etymology is a common infliction I suffer...)
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Quote from: Dave on September 05, 2017, 07:29:37 PM
One for you, Hermes. I suddenly thought of the word "poppycock" (with immediate jokey thoughts about the genitalia of flowers) and decided to look it up.

Guess who we stole it from!

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.


(I fear this "word popping" and the instant need for a definition or etymology is a common infliction I suffer...)

I am a fellow sufferer! The Dutch kak can be traced back to the Greek kakos. There is also a word I don't hear too much: cack-handed.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames