Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - Grammar Rocks

Reverse English Revisited

Back in December I posted an incredible video that featured a very talented individual known as OneManSho singing a song in reverse.

Here is the video -

And here is a link to the video on YouTube in case your browser does not allow you to view it here.

At any rate, the reason I bring up this post is...I have since learned that some people arrived on the post from an unusual search engine with which I was not familiar. Here is a screen shot of the search engine -

No, this is not an error.

Here are a few of the FAQ and answers from the search engine creator -

1.1 Why is this backwards?

It's a Google mirror. A common practice for busy websites is to create a mirror site, which is an exact replica of the original site but on a different server. This way if one server is really busy, you can go to the other server. elgooG is a play on this idea, except instead of an exact replica of the site, it's a mirror image of the site.

1.2. Why have you done this?

For fun. I thought it was a pretty funny idea and an interesting programming challenge, so I did it.

1.3. Well, yes - but what's the point? Other than humor.

It helps promotes reading backwards, which could be useful in such situations as reading the front of an ambulance or playing scrabble.

For more FAQ and answers click here - Google Mirror FAQ

Nuf, nuf, nuf. yalp evol I.

Phonetic Typing Errors

The zdrankezd dhing habbenet earlier dotay.

What, exactly, is wrong with this sentence?

Here is a hint: It should read, "The strangest thing happened earlier today."

For some odd reason, I kept hitting the wrong keys while typing.

After about a half an hour, I finally noticed that the majority of my typos were the exchange of voiced for voiceless consonants and vice-versa.

Though the International Phonetic Alphabet represents sounds not letters, many of the symbols for sounds are the same as letters from the alphabet.

Because most of the counterpart phonemes are not close to each other on the keyboard, I have no explanation as to why this would have happened other than the fact that I have been reviewing the IPA with my class this week.

Picture credit to labnol.org

Blog Awards - A Portuguese Stamp of Approval

Thank you to Inma Domínguez from My English Class for considering my blog to be one of Ten Blogs Worth Visiting and presenting me with this award. I am honored.


Here is a list of ten blogs I consider visit-worthy.

10 Blogs Worth Visiting

Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Fritinancy

Inky Fool

Language Log

Literal-Minded

Mighty Red Pen

Red Pen, Inc.

Sentence First

The Virtual Linguist

Wordlustitude

*I could not find a direct translation for the phrase on the award but a loose translation from Portuguese is, "it is worth the wait to keep track of this blog." Thank you again Inma.

The Recursiveness of Language - A Linkfest

Because language is recursive, I thought it would be fun to post links to linkfests from some of my favorite linguistics blogs.

Fritinancy - Linkfests

Sentence First - Link Love

Literal-Minded - Linkfests In linguistics, recursion is the unlimited extension of language. It is the ability to embed phrases within phrases and sentences within sentences resulting in the potential of a never-ending sentence.

I sure hope that someone will link to my links to these linkfests and that another person will link to that link and another person will link to the link that links to my links to these linkfests and so on and so on and so on...

Word Play - License Plate Phonetics

Here is an example of a vanity plate that combines letters in an unusual way to convey a message phonetically.

What do you think this license plate says?

Please click on the comment button to submit your answer.

Hint: What is the plural of "Z"?

The Second in a Series of Occasional Linguistics Quizzes

Two words from the following list share an affix.

Do you know which two and why?

wetter

manner

ruler

fewer

For answer please scroll down.

?????

????

???

??

?

?????
????
???
??
?

The answer is: wetter and fewer

The words wetter and fewer both contain the inflectional, comparative -er suffix.

The word ruler contains the derivational -er suffix, changing the verb rule to the noun ruler.

The word manner is a single morpheme and does not have a suffix.

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In morphology, the same forms do not always have the same functions.

Patting Myself on the Idiomatic Back

I can't resist sharing the news that this blog has just been voted one of the 50 Best Blogs for Grammar Geeks. I am honored to be in the ranks with some of my favorite linguistics blogs.

The Chronicles of Onnicles

I have just been introduced to a stimulating new concept in word puzzles called Onnicles. According to the creator, Sameer Kamat, Onnicles or Onamographic Articles, " creatively incorporate proper nouns (celebrity names, company names etc) in regular English sentences." The term "Onamography" was coined by Kamat as "a conjunction of the Greek words onuma (‘name’) and graphe (‘writing’)."


The object of an Onnicle is to find the names that are embedded in an article. The names often start in one word and end in an another. Onnicles begin with a clue that reveals a category of names for which you will be searching; for example, a recent Onnicle clue was "10 of the greatest guitarists of all time (according to Rolling Stone Magazine)." The clue is then followed by an article which will include the names.

I think the best way to describe Onnicles is that they are a cross between a word search puzzle, Scrabble and Jeopardy; so if you like any or all of these games give an Onnicle a try. You can learn more about Onnicles, as well as solve and create Onnicles at Onamography.

Puzzle image courtesy of http://www.englishonline.org

Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - The Semantics of Lean

Phonetics Lessons with Homer Simpson

Having previously posted about words that the television show The Simpsons has contributed to our lexicon I was thrilled to see a link on Fritinancy to an article about the Simpsons greatest language contribution. What I found most interesting in the article is the following:

"In the French version of the show Homer actually says 'T'oh!', instead of "D"oh!". This is because the French actor who dubs Homer"s voice misread the word the first time he played the role and has never got round to correcting himself."

I guess the actor must have been losing his voice that day.

.

In phonetics /t/ is the voiceless counterpart of /d/.

Click here for more about voicing.

Teabonics Schmebonics

This photo illustrates what has been dubbed in political circles (and written about on numerous language blogs including Language Log, Mighty Red Pen, Guardian and NYDailyNews.com to name a few) "Teabonics".

The photo is from a flickr post that includes a collection of similar photos as well as the following description:

"These are signs seen primarily at Tea Party Protests.

They all feature 'creative' spelling or grammar.

This new dialect of the English language shall be known as 'Teabonics.'"

It seems obvious from the description that the term "Teabonics" is a blend of "Tea Party" and "Ebonics".

Interestingly, "Ebonics" is itself a blended word according to the following entry found on merriam-webster.com:
Ebonics
Pronunciation: \ē-ˈbä-niks, i-, e-\
Function: noun plural but singular in construction
Etymology: blend of ebony and phonics
Date: 1973
: black english: a nonstandard variety of English spoken by some African-Americans

What bothers me most about the neologism "Teabonics" comes from the contradiction in its definition with that of the definition of "Ebonics", upon which is supposedly based.

The "phonics" portion of the Ebonics definition is defined by merriam-webster.com as: the science of sound : acoustics. And even the definition of Black English refers to the fact that Ebonics is a variety of spoken English.

So if Teabonics is based on the creative spelling or grammar found on written signs, why not name it something that has to do with writing and not sounds.

Teagraphy or Teapography, anyone?

Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - Bad Accents

Would You Accent My Friendship?

The March 2010 issue of Scientific American included an article about a Harvard University study that looked at how children select friends when given a racially and linguistically diverse set of candidates.

The study found that when a group of white five-year-olds were shown pictures and voice recordings of potential friends they "preferred a black child speaking with a native accent over a white child who spoke English with a foreign accent."

While developmental psychologist Katherine D. Kinzler from Harvard explains that "preference for our own race might have developed later, after the more ancient preference for our own accent" the findings from the study are still presented as somewhat of a surprise.

I am not surprised one bit. After all, the key to any successful relationship is communication.

U.S. Television Networks Contract Word Aversion

Having recently posted about a linguistic phenomenon called "word aversion", I had to chuckle when I read the April 2nd issue of The Week magazine. According to The Week, television networks in the U.S. have banned a Kotex tampon commercial that uses the word "vagina".

Give me a break.

These same networks allow the repeated use of numerous "swear" words during prime-time television shows (not to mention the fact that the topics on many of these shows include sex, drugs and various bodily functions). Have you ever watched Two and a Half Men or How I Met Your Mother?

And beside the point, some forms of sexual education are now taught in public schools as early as kindergarten. Parts of the human anatomy should not be considered taboo words.

###

P.S. Here is a great cartoon about word aversion spotted on Language Log.

I have to agree about the word "slacks". I would even go with "trousers" over "slacks".

Sexuality in the Semantics of Names

A man boarded an aircraft at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 for New York, and taking his seat as he settled in, he noticed a very beautiful woman boarding the plane. He realised she was heading straight toward his seat and bingo - she took the seat right beside him.

"Hello," he blurted out, "Business trip or vacation?"

She turned, smiled enchantingly and said, "Business. I'm going to the annual nymphomaniac convention in the United States."

He swallowed hard. Here was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen sitting next to him, and she was going to a meeting for nymphomaniacs!

Struggling to maintain his composure, he calmly asked, "What's your business role at this convention?"

"Lecturer," she responded. "I use my experience to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality."

"Really," he smiled, "what myths are those?"

"Well," she explained, "one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well endowed when, in fact, it's the Native American Indian who is most likely to possess that trait. Another popular myth is that French men are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Greek descent. We have also found that the best potential lovers in all categories are the Irish."

Suddenly the woman became uncomfortable and blushed. "I'm sorry," she said "I really shouldn't be discussing this with you, I don't even know your name!"

"Tonto," the man said. "Tonto Papadopoulos, but my friends call me Paddy."





-I received this joke in an e-mail, the author is unknown.

Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - Happy April Fool's Day (Pragmatically Speaking)