A Multilingual Visual of The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones classic tongue and lip logo was designed by graphic artist John Pasche.

I just came across this wonderful version of The Rolling Stones logo on a Portuguese blog called viiish.

Sticker created for Polyglot Institute, the school languages.

When I was a youngster, I had several bumper stickers with the logo (thanks to WRIF) and they were some of my most prized possessions.  

Oh, the memories...

No Matter What You Call It, Please Help Ban It

K2 and Spice are just a couple of the names by which synthetic marijuana is known. A friend lost her 18-year-son this past weekend to an overdose of this drug. The product is often marketed as herbal incense and is widely available in the United States.

Please help support a worthy cause by clicking on the following White House website link, registering, and signing the petition. It only takes a couple of minutes.

Ban all synthetic drugs including spice, k2 and related brands currently sold legally in gas stations and head shops.




Read more about the dangers of synthetic marijuana in the Forbes article "Synthetic Marijuana: What It Is And Why It Should Be Banned."

Moviemash Sequel

Chimpanzee salmon fishing.

Once chimpanzee completes journey to safe cabin in the woods, it is time for salmon fishing.

Thank you, cousin Kristin, for the update on chimpanzee you posted on Facebook. 

A Script for Fun

Can you identify and translate the following -

I have mentioned Geocaching a couple of times recently and some of my favorite Geocaches are puzzles (including the above).

If you know what the script is or want to guess, please share in comments.

I was able to solve the puzzle and here is my response to the puzzle creator -

P.S. If you are a Geocacher who lives in or will be visiting Michigan, I have created a linguistics Geocache puzzle that you might want to check out here.

A Not So Trivial /ʌ/

He has been the host of a popular television game show since 1984 and is said to be contemplating retirement in the next two years.

Who is Alex Trebek?

Or should I say...Who is Alex Trebek-Ah?

I have been noticing more and more recently that when it comes to trivia games there seems to be a dialectical affectation exhibited by emcees.

I have been a Jeopardy viewer for as long as I can remember and it is only lately that I noticed Alex Trebek adding what I would call an "ah-suffix" to consonant final words when he is giving a question that was missed by the contestants. And it is not just Alex Trebek that does this (which might explain why I have noticed it more). My husband and I often play trivia at some local restaurants and have experienced several emcees that have the same affectation (e.g., "The correct answer is...game shows-Ah."). I have no idea if they are emulating Trebek or if it is part of their trivia training. Either way, it must be that the phenomenon is-Ah trending-Ah in the trivia world or I just wasn't as attentive prior to the last few months-Ah.

Phonetically, the sound could be transcribed as either /ʌ/ or /ɒ/ depending on the speaker's dialect. 

Image credits.

Moviemash

Chimpanzee journey 2 safe cabin in the woods.

This picture, posted by my cousin on Facebook, reminded me of Stan Carey's bookmashes.

I especially loved my cousin's comment: "I would see that movie in a heartbeat."

Thanks for the fun, Kristin.

Scarecrow Conducts Linguistics Field Research

I usually don't pay too much attention to memes (most of them hold little humor for me) and I rarely write about them because they grow old so fast; however, I couldn't resist this one because it reminded me of a dear friend.  

It appears this scarecrow loves vegetable puns but is scared of apostrophes.

Scarecrow meme via Tastefully Offensive.

Hard Luck Word Choice

As part of a vodka promotion, these coozies were given out at one of our local watering holes last week.

Something about the rhyming slogan is all over the floor for me.

If a vodka is so wonderfully flavored, I would think that people would want to "swill it" not "spill it".

swill:
v.tr. 1. To drink greedily or grossly.
v.intr. To drink or eat greedily or to excess.

Okay, maybe it is bartender lingo for pouring (i.e., "spill some of that vodka into my glass, please."), but I like the sound of "swill" better anyhow; its manner isn't stopped up.

Phrasal Templates in Advertising

Driving on the expressway recently, I passed a truck bearing a particular phrase. Most drivers would probably write it off as an eponymous company name and not give it any more thought. My language-loving, word-playing brain wouldn't let it go so quickly however. 

Image from: Rich Logistics

Above is what I saw, below is what I thought: 


Rich logistics, poor genetics
Rich logistics, poor athletics
Rich logistics, poor statistics
Rich logistics, poor aesthetics
Rich logistics, poor didactics
Rich logistics, poor schematics


And the list could go on and on.


These phrasal coordinations are based on the well-known and snowclone-able phrase "often imitated, never duplicated".


According to the Phrase Finder, "often imitated (but) never duplicated" has been "used in a lot of different ad copy back to the 1920's but it doesn't seem to have been a trademarked slogan exclusive to one product or company."


Snowclones of "often imitated, never duplicated" that I have seen include "big taste, small budget" and "cold beer, hot food". I'm sure there are many more too; so, please feel free to share additional examples in comments.


A semantic analysis of the snowclone: "desriptor + descriptee, desriptor + descriptee" 
Note: Descriptors in the coordinations must be antonyms


A syntactic analysis of the snowclone: "Adj + Noun, Adj + Noun" or "Adverb + Verb, Adverb + Verb"


My apologies to Rich Logistics; it is all in good fun. 

Roadside Linguistics - Sign Syntax

Michigan's warning signs regarding ice on bridges are pretty straightforward syntactically; in fact, I can't think of any other way to parse the sentence than the following - 

On the other hand, some signs from other states (like the one below) can be parsed differently depending upon which part of speech the word before is playing.

Logically, I would say that the sign is intended to be interpreted with before acting as a subordinating conjunction for a temporal, adverbial clause, as follows -

However, the option is open for before to be interpreted as a preposition telling where the bridge ices.

And this is why I don't sleep at night.

Sign image credits.

A Trite One-Liner Gets a Visual Rebirth

As much as the expression grates on my nerves, I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw the following image.

Image credit

The Bitches and Bastards of Beer Branding

Apparently, a Fat Bastard and a Dirty Bitch do not a Dirty Bastard make, at least not in Alabama.

According to the May 4, 2012 issue of The Week magazine, the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board banned the sale of Dirty Bastard Beer "to keep dirty pictures and dirty words away from children." However, the Board continues to allow the sale of Fat Bastard wine and Dirty Bitch beer.

Interesting, though not entirely accurate. It is actually called Raging Bitch beer.

Either way, the linguistic hypocrisy is evident.

Image credits: 1, 2 and 3.

Language Clippings

University of Michigan's Anne Curzan gives a great mini-lecture about slang words formed by clipping and how these words have the potential to become a standard part of the lexicon.