The American English phonology rule for flapping states that alveolar stops are flapped intervocalically when followed by an unstressed vowel.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Happy Homophonic Birthday Mom
The American English phonology rule for flapping states that alveolar stops are flapped intervocalically when followed by an unstressed vowel.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Fortune Cookie as a Magic Eight Ball
Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
What the...is a Hoomba
I googled the word and came up with only one definition (not hers) from Urban Dictionary which follows -
Hoomba: A "nothing" word used to replace a noun when the appropriate noun cannot be thought of in the amount necessary for conversation.
1) "Hey, grab me that...hoomba"
2) "I was struck on the back of the head with a...hoomba."
I far prefer the definition provided by my friend's clanolect (of which I have become a part, thank you) -
Hoomba: A bonfire poker
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Verbing Nouns and Placing Products
"I have never Bensoned her Hedges, nor have I attempted to Bartle her Jaymes."
Monday, September 21, 2009
Linguistics Quotation Favorites - Universality
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Newsweek Magazine's Weird Word Choice
"It's easy enough to find culprits in the nation's epidemic of obesity, starting with tubs of buttered popcorn at the multiplex and McDonald's 1,220-calorie deluxe breakfasts, and moving on to the couch potato-fication of America."
I am wondering if any particular word in this sentence bothers readers as much as it bothers me.
Do you see which word I am referring to?
Not yet.
Well.....
The word that really gets to me is "couch potato-fication".
A morphological analysis of the formation of the word "couch potato-fication" suggests that the suffix "-ify" (in the form of "-fy") was added to the compound noun "couch potato" resulting in the verb "couch potato-fy" meaning, "to make or cause one to be a couch potato." Then the suffix "-ation" was added to the verb "couch potato-fy" resulting in the noun "couch potato-fication" meaning, "the state or quality of making or causing one to be a couch potato."
While "-fy" is an accepted variant of the suffix "-ify", according to encyclopedia.com the suffix normally takes the form "-ify". Additionally, the combination of the suffixes "-ify" and "-ation" form what is considered a separate suffix "-ification". The suffix "-ification" is highly productive as can be seen by the following unexhausted list of words.
amplification
beatification
certification
clarification
classification
codification
deification
demystification
disqualification
diversification
edification
falsification
fortification
glorification
gratification
identification
justification
mystification
notification
ossification
personification
purification
qualification
quantification
ramification
ratification
rectification
reunification
sanctification
simplification
solidification
specification
stratification
unification
verification
Had the Newsweek article used the suffix in its known form, I probably would not have even thought twice about the neologism. However, without the initial /I/ or short-i sound found in the suffix, Newsweek's use stuck out like a phonetically sore thumb.
Granted the "-ification" suffix usually follows a consonant, it doesn't always, as exhibited by the word "deification". So based upon the linguistic template of "deification" and the known phonological pattern of the suffix, I think that "couch potato-ification" would have been a better choice for this neologism.
By the way, another thought that entered my mind when first reading this word was, "did they mean to say "couch potato-fixation", as in our nation has a fixation on the ability to be couch potatoes? As a matter of fact, when googling the suffix "-fication" without its initial letter "i" as Newsweek used it, Google responded with, "Did you mean: -fixation".
###
The article is also available on the Newsweek website and, interestingly, does not include the hyphen between potato and fication. Whether the word is written as "couch potato-fication" or "couch potatofication" it still sounds odd to me.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
PNUT...What??? APOSTROPHE...where???
Snapped this photo at one of our local grocery stores. I immediately wondered what the heck a 'pnut' is and why someone would make butter out of it. If the sign had read "p'nut" I would have known right away that it was a contraction for 'peanut' and I do love peanut butter.
By the way (with credit to The Owl at Purdue), "A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" Explained
Created by Ari Hoptman, a former undergraduate linguistics major from Wayne State University.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Cambridge Online Survey of World Englishes - Do You Call it Soda, Pop, Coke or What?
"What we are interested in is not what other people believe is "correct" English or what you think you and others should say, but what you actually do say."
The questions and multiple-choice answers from the survey are informative and entertaining and it only takes a few minute to answer them.
Plus, as an added bonus (wow, look at that redundancy) once you have completed the survey you can view the results that are tabulated on a daily basis.
Following is one of the questions with the current results to pique your interest:
Question: "What is your generic casual or informal term for a sweetened carbonated beverage? (As in: "We have milk, beer, apple juice, and four kinds of _____: Pepsi, 7Up, root beer, and ginger ale.") Results as of 9/13/2009:
soda (31%)
pop (17%)
soft drink (14%)
coke (8%)
I just call each kind by its individual name (6%)
Other responses (21%)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Vehicular Vocabulary
According to an article on Wired.com, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who are studying the phenomenon in hopes of expunging it, have suggested an additional name for this kind of gridlock - a "jamiton". "It’s a riff on 'soliton,' a term used in math and physics to describe a self-sustaining wave that maintains its shape while moving."
These "phantom jams" or "jamitons" occur when there is even the slightest disturbance in the flow of heavy traffic - a driver unnecessarily touching the brakes, someone tailgating or an idiot talking on the phone and not paying full attention to the road. These minor disruptions to the flow of traffic cause a chain reaction that results in a self-sustaining traffic jam.
Following is a video of MIT's model of the formation of a phantom jam.
As a frequent weekend and vacation expressway traveller, I wholeheartedly support MIT's research efforts and would like to remind drivers not to tailgate, not to talk on the phone, not to unnecessarily use brakes and, most importantly, that the left lane is for passing and slower traffic should keep right.
Let's eradicate these terms from our vocabulary.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Semiotics of College Letters
Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - Snowclones
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
That Cranberry Morpheme Has Tude
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Silly Snowclone Version II (Rated R)
A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were at a restaurant/bar in northern Michigan that was hosting a bike night when we ran into a gentleman wearing the t-shirt pictured below:
Talk about giving a children's cereal an adult spin.