Category: Open House

pe’vIl mu’qaDmey . . . or Curse Well in Klingon . . . or Made Up Movie Languages

pe’vIl mu’qaDmey
or . . .
Curse Well in Klingon
or . . .
Made Up Movie Languages!

Now you know how to gracefully exit yet another Klingon late night gaming party! You never know when learning Klingon will save your life!

Full Disclosure: Contrary to many rumours, I do not speak Klingon. I just like to have the Netflix Closed Caption on for any Science Fiction movie that has … space languages!

 

DOUBLE Full Disclosure: Early disclosure but my favourite made up language is from the movie ‘Arrival‘. Not only is it a fabulous movie, but they managed to add something new to a language that is CRITICAL to the storyline! WARNING!:- spoilers below about what that is!

The most popular and well known ‘Alien’ language is without a doubt, Klingon! Star Trek has become part of our Pop Culture ever since Spock first said ‘Illogical’. For many years, I would imbed an ‘Easter Egg’ in my CALL Facility demos that had Klingon as one of the many courses taught at UVic. And then … IT REALLY HAPPENED!

And of course, one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and prequel The Hobbit, contain MANY made up languages by J.R.R. Tolkien! And another UVic course was offered as well, but treating Middle Earth more as a history course than a Linguistics course!

And even more blockbuster movies contained made up languages: Avatar (Na’vi), Arrival (Heptapod B), Despicable Me (Minion), Serenity (The Galactic Language), Harry Potter (Parseltongue), Cloud Atlas (Old Georgie) and one not for the faint of heart in A Clockwork Orange (Nadsat).

SPOILER ALERT!: And my favourite of them all, that would be top of my own list to learn would be ….. HEPTAPOD B! This is a language that is quite literally … FLUID or maybe SMOKE or maybe SENTIENT INK! And it allows for Time Travel! There simply is no other cooler language than Heptapod B! I will be the first to register when it is offered at UVic!

And if Heptapod B ever IS offered at UVic, since it is a Time Travel kind of language, you would never have to do any homework because … you would have already learned it! That is my kind of course!

Imagine ordering Take Out in …. Heptapod B! They would already know when and what you wanted and it would arrive … INSTANTLY! So many benefits! 

And I leave you with the best Elvish script from The Lord of the Ring:

Enjoy!

  1. The top 10 made-up movie languages
  2. 10 FICTIONAL MOVIE LANGUAGES WE’D LOVE TO LEARN
  3. Arrival — Decoding the Universal Language of Time
  4. A 100-word dictionary was made to create the alien language in this year’s highly anticipated sci-fi thriller ‘Arrival’
  5. HOW DO YOU SPEAK HEPTAPOD B?
  6. Learning From Time
  7. Fictional language
  8. 12 Fictional Film and TV Languages You Can Actually Learn
  9. 11 fictional languages created for movies and books
  10. Top 9 Best Made Up Languages Ever Created
  11. When Hollywood Needs A Made-Up Language, They Come To Us
  12. 6 Fictional Languages You Can Really Learn
  13. Klingon Phrases
  14. Klingon proverbs
  15. 18 Klingon Phrases That’ll Save Your Life One Day

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Arrival’s Linguistic Relativity
and Time Perception

Top 10
Fictional Languages

Arrival
Embrace the Problem of Language

Arrival: Sabotaged
Diplomacy Scene

Accent Expert Breaks Down
6 Fictional Languages

4 Fictional Languages
You Can Learn

5 Fictional Languages
You Can Actually Learn

Artlang: A Compilation of
Movie and TV Clips

 

J.R.R. Tolkien Reads
A Poem in Elvish

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Unconscious and Precocious Surveillance of Foudroyant Chrysanthemums . . or Hard to SPELL English Words

Of Unconscious and
Precocious Surveillance of
Foudroyant Chrysanthemums
or . . .
Hard to Spell
English Words!

Yet another sentence that you won’t find at Google. BUT, each word IS spelled correctly!  And the reason being … SPELLCHECKERS!

Full Disclosure: Eye I am knot bad at spelling, but I am not grate at grammar! Bear with mee! 

DOUBLE Full Disclosure: My Grade 1 teacher traumitized me when under constant threat of being whacked with her ruler, could not properly spell ‘cat’ in her presence! All that could come out of me when challenged by her was ….. ‘KAT’! 

WAY back when, I took a computer science course at the University of Calgary. One ‘advanced’ assignment was to read in a random paragraph, generated by the Prof, then scan the paragraph and change some words to … OTHER words! They weren’t misspelled, but it was the pre-cursor to spellcheckers, grammar checkers and word processing! Oh, did I mention … we had to program in FORTRAN and … ON PUNCHED CARDS!!!! Good times, good times … KNOT!

Everyone probably has a few words that they consistently misspell, including the word, misspell!

It just doesn’t ‘look right’ with a double-s in the middle! Other words that always seem to throw me are: pronounce, pronunciation, comfortable, principle & principal, compatible & compatible, weird, catchup & ketchup, and of course … CAT! Some are context based confusion for me, some are just … they don’t look right!

So why do some people misspell words? Turns out, it can be a major cognitive challenge!

It turns out that misspelling in the brain (if it’s not being influenced by some kind of learning disorder, like dyslexia, which is another matter entirely) is a multi-layered problem involving diverse areas of brain tissue and multiple processes. Spelling, neurologically, isn’t as simple as rummaging in a brain-bin, finding a word, and reproducing it perfectly on paper. There are many stages where things can go slightly awry, and new science means we can pinpoint exactly where in the brain various processes are going wrong. Not much of a comfort when you’ve misspelt the main word in the title of your Powerpoint presentation, but there it is.

And one of my favourite words and that I often spell wrong is QUIXOTIC! It has a neat pronunciation and an imaginative, literary and historic background! Beauty and Chaos all in one word, including how to pronounce it!

What a wonderful word quixotic is! While it is most often used to mean equally impractical and idealistic, it also has the sense of romantic nobility. Its source is from the great Spanish novel “Don Quixote,” whose title character is given to unrealistic schemes and great chivalry. In the middle of a recession and high unemployment, it would be quixotic to imagine that you could quit your job and find another easily.

Spellcheckers are amazing … and annoying at the same time! If I recall, our lab computers have spellchecking turned on automatically for documents in Word/Office. And that causes a clear 50/50 split amongst students using Office! Literally half the students want it turned OFF when it is ON. And you can guess the other half! You can’t hope to win …. best you can hope for is a tie!

Personally, I just crank out the text, I try and catch my spelling mistakes, but I know that upon another read through, I will let Bill Gates decide what word I want to use. OOPS, forgot about that US vs Canadian spelling! And that might also be a future post too – different spellings for common words in US, Canada, UK, Australia, etc. and more curiouser and curiouser … WHY?

And nice to know that Word has spellcheckers in foreign languages too! That is always a ‘weight off my shoulders’ for First Year German students! LOL!

Enjoy!

  1. 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling
  2. 25 Hard Spelling Bee Words & Meanings
  3. 15 of the Hardest Words to Spell in the English Language
  4. Top 10 hardest words to spell
  5. These are the hardest-to-spell words in the English language
  6. 10 Hard Words to Spell in English
  7. The 8 most Difficult words to spell
  8. Difficult Spelling Words Quiz
  9. WHAT ARE THE TOP 100 HARDEST WORDS TO SPELL?
  10. 100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English
  11. 300 Most Difficult SAT Words
  12. Robert Heckendorn’s List of Hard to Spell Words
  13. Why Some People Are Bad Spellers, Unscrambled

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Top 20 Hardest
English Words to Spell

7 Year Old Child Spells out
the LONGEST English Word!

8 Extremely Long Words
Everyone Must Learn in English

Top 20 Hardest English Words
to Spell! Guess the Right Word!

Top 10 Hardest Words
to Spell

10 Difficult
English Words to Spell

Can You Spell
These 10 Difficult Words?

How to Pronounce the
Longest Name in Canada

Home Simpson
I Am So Smart

 

 

 

 

 

Of Specific Rural Isthmuses Surrounded by Anemones Overrun by Squirrels . . or Hard to Pronounce English Words

Of Specific Rural Isthmuses
Surrounded by Anemones
Overrun by Squirrels
or . . .
Hard to Pronounce
English Words!

I guarantee you that sentence will never be found using Google!  And the reason being … it is made up of some of the words that are considered THE hardest to pronounce in the English language!

Full Disclosure: That is the weirdest sentence I could think of. Don’t make me write another one! I am saving other weird sentences for a future post about using …. Google Translate!

A previous post looked at “Unpronounceable Words or . . . I Didn’t Quite . . . Catch That . . .” about hard to pronounce words in the World! This time, let’s just look at English! Last time, I included ‘Worcestershire’ and … it is still difficult to pronounce, even in other languages!

So why are some English words so hard to say, even if you are a native speaker? There are those that simply say, “My mouth just doesn’t work that way!” and that actually might be true for some speakers!

Other words throw a curve by including a sound, that does NOT have the corresponding, and logical, letter within the word! For example, Colonel!

But it turns out, there is a rationale for it:

The key is phonology – the science of sounds within the language. Hebrew has five or six vowel sounds and more than 20 consonant sounds. In contrast, English has five written vowels, but 20 vocalic sounds. A written ‘a’ will have numerous different sounds depending on what letters are couched around it.

And to throw yet another curve at you, try this extract from a famous pronunciation poem circa the turn of the century!

Enjoy!

(And a really tough poem is here!)

The Chaos

by G. Nolst Trenite a.k.a. “Charivarius” 1870 – 1946

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye your dress you’ll tear,
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer,
Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, beard and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say said, pay-paid, laid, but plaid.
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say break, steak, but bleak and streak.
Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir,
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles.
Exiles, similes, reviles.
Wholly, holly, signal, signing.

  1. The 10 hardest English words to pronounce, according to Reddit
  2. 14 Hard Words to Pronounce in the English Language
  3. 40 Hard-to-Pronounce Words You’re Probably Getting Wrong
  4. What’s The Most Difficult Word In The World To Pronounce?
  5. The 14 Hardest Words to Pronounce in the English Language
  6. 20 Words That Are Really Hard to Pronounce in the English Language
  7. The most difficult words to pronounce in the English language revealed – as well as the world’s favourite English tongue-twisters
  8. WHY ARE SOME ENGLISH WORDS HARDER TO PRONOUNCE FOR SOME NATIVE SPEAKERS BUT NOT FOR OTHERS?
  9. Psychologists reveal the world’s hardest tongue twister

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

Pronounce 33 Most Difficult
English Words

100 HARDEST English Words
Pronunciation Practice Lesson

Top 60 Mispronounced
English Words

60 Words You Are
Pronouncing INCORRECTLY!

How to Cheat at Pronunciation!
10 Most Difficult English Words!

10 English Words You Are
Probably Mispronouncing!

10 Most Difficult Words
to Pronounce in English

The ‘Chaos”
English is Tough Stuff!

Watch People Try to Pronounce
the 5 Hardest Words

   

 

 

 

 

 

Culturally Specific Words and Phrases or . . . How’s it goin’, eh!

Culturally Specific Words
and Phrases . . .
or . . .
How’s it goin’, eh!

Large Double-Double please and half a dozen Tim Bits to go, eh! And Canada is (probably) the only nation that you will hear and know what that means!

Full Disclosure: I have never ordered a double-double at Timmie’s! I like a bit of milk in my coffee and no sugar … but I will never turn down a Tim Bit!

DOUBLE DOUBLE Full Disclosure: I don’t know a single person that pronounces ‘about‘ as ‘aboot ‘! 

Every country has very specific culturally important words and phrases that not only define but describe instantly where you are from … mostly! I find this endearing and patriotic as well!

I love to talk about Canada with the many International students that visit and attend UVic!

Fun Fact: It is often a homework assignment for ESL students to seek out a Canadian and ask them questions about CANADA! This is especially fun during ‘Roll Up the Rim’ time!

And think of how many will now return to their home country and continue to use … ‘eh!’ in their native language! Canada’s “Not So Secret Plan To Take Over The World”!

Worldwide, Canadians can usually be identified instantly by … wearing a Canadian Maple Leaf or Flag on their luggage or back packs! When I travelled through Europe in (ssshhhhh!!!)  ’79, my entire BACKPACK was one huge Canadian Flag! It served me very well!

And of course, the obiquitous phrase, ‘How’s it going, eh!!“ is only pronounced PROPERLY by Canadians! I have American cousins and they try, very hard, VERY VERY hard to say that simple phrase, but …. they can never do it! There is a tell-tale ….. pause ….. just before the ‘eh!’ and they just don’t have the timing down, eh!

I bet you don’t know how OLD usage of this phrase is! I certainly didn’t until I watched the next video!

There is even a full Wikipedia page about Canadian English, eh! That means we have arrived BIG TIME!!!!

I am a proud Canadian and will always smile, chuckle and OWN our incredible Canadian distinctiveness of history, culture, origins and especially languages! Now, if you excuse me, I am going to go to the nearest Drive-Thru Tim Horton’s!

And some of the best of MANY Canadian Language, Phrases, Pronunciations and Canadiana that are out there .. and there are ALOT out there! After all, it IS … The Internet, eh!

So that should cover most of Canadian words, phrases and pronunciations from ‘Eh to … ZED – but not ZEE!

  1. Speak like a Canadian – sayings, phrases and words
  2. 27 Canadian Slang Words You Need to Know
  3. 50 Canadian Slang Words Our American Friends Don’t Understand
  4. Canadianisms
  5. THE GREAT CANADIAN WORD, UNIQUE PHRASES AND CANADIAN SAYINGS
  6. 7 Totally Canadian Things About Tim Hortons (But That May Change)
  7. Canadian Words You May Not Know or Understand
  8. Appendix:Glossary of Canadian English
  9. 55 Canadianisms You May Not Know or Are Using Differently
  10. Canadian / American Spelling Differences …
  11. Words we pronounce differently in Canada
  12. 35 Canadian words and phrases Americans just don’t get
  13. Captain Canuck!

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

 

 

 

How to Speak
Like a Canadian

Will Arnett Teaches You
Canadian Slang

Canadian Words
From Eh to Zed

Canadian vs American
Pronunciation

Canadian Spelling

Bob and Doug McKenzie
12 Days of Christmas

I Am Canadian!

(Best Canadian Commercial … EVER, eh!)

My Name is Willliam Shatner
and  . . .  I.Am.Canadian!

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s in a Word . . . or What’s in a NEW Word!

What’s in a Word . . .
or . . . 
What’s in a NEW Word!

Levidrome! And if you have never heard of that word before, there is an amazing reason why! Spoiler alert – the reason why is below!

Full Disclosure: I might mispronounce words, spell them wrong, use them wrong .. FREQUENTLY … but that does not make them new! Hahaha … NOPE!

So what does it take to CREATE a new word in English? Well, Shakespeare is considered the greatest Neologist, which is a word I did not know existed before this post – someone who creates new words! And John Milton is credited with over 630 coinages, including lovelorn, fragrance and pandemonium! So it would seem that appearing in literature is a strong indicator of how new words become part of our language.

Over 5400 English words are created every single year! But only about 1,000 make it into print or actual usage. There are generally 13 potential mechanisms for how a new word is created.

Neologism is the process of HOW a word becomes part of mainstream language, but not quite necessarily there, just yet! How ironic – a word describing words that … aren’t quite words yet! 

And recently, with daily broadcasts from Dr. Bonnie about Covid-19 in BC, Nigel Howard (one of our very own UVic Instructors for ASL!) has become quite famous with how he signs and has his own ‘unique’ sign for keeping proper social/physical distancing!

This t-shirt is a salute to Nigel Howard, one of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s American Sign Language interpreters that accompanies her during her daily COVID-19 briefings to British Columbians.

So now you know about one of the newest words
that have entered our language
AND YOU CAN WEAR IT TOO!!!!!
(and yes, I bought one for myself!!!)

And now, Levidrome! If you think a new word just magically appears, well, sometimes it does for amazing reasons! And even more amazingly, how about right here in VICTORIA!

7 year old Levi at a local school in Victoria, came up with the word ‘Levidrome‘ that describes how one word spells ANOTHER word, BACKWARDS! An example is ‘pool‘ and ‘loop‘! Levi based it on the word ‘Palindrome’ which is when a word is spelled the same way, backwards and forwards, such as ‘kayak‘ or ‘madam‘. 

At first, Oxford did not accept this new word based on common or natural use worldwide, but this changed soon afterwards! Soon there was national attention, even drawing the interest of William Shatner! Hey, if Captain Kirk thinks it is a word, then … make it so!

  1. 23 Stupendous Vocabulary Words I Learned From ‘Calvin & Hobbes’
    1. (Not quite technically ‘new’ words from Calvin & Hobbes, but impressive for a 6 year old!)
  2. How new words are born
  3. How To Get A Word Into The Dictionary
  4. How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary?
  5. How an eight-year-old boy invented a new word
  6. How Does a Word Become a Word?
  7. BC IS AWESOME!

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

Top 12 Brand New Words
Slang Added in 2019

New Words Added
to the Dictionary in 2019

Where Do New Words
Come From – TED Talks

Prefixes in English
Understanding New Words

What Makes a Word ‘Real’?
Anne Curzan TED Talks

New Words Mandy Patinkin

(My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!)

Ten New English Words
Added to the Dictionary 2019

Trending English Words
for 2020

15 English Slang Words
You Need to Know in 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misunderstood Words or . . . I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

Misunderstood Words or . . .
I Do Not Think It Means
What You Think It Means . . .

INCONCEIVABLE! And if you haven’t seen where THAT word comes from, then you are in for a treat ……

Full Disclosure: I often, OFTEN, OFTEN, OFTEN misuse and mispronounce words! 

Scenes involving The Princess Bride have become iconic, especially any and all of the ‘Inconceivable’ scenes. Words always take on their own meanings, even if tht meaning is literally …. ‘INCONCEIVABLE!”

Rotten Tomatoes gives The Princess Bride a 97% on the Tomatometer! Oh, and do yourself a favour and READ THE BOOK by William Goldman! As good as the movie is, the book is SO MUCH BETTER! 

Who hasn’t used the word ‘Unique’ thinking it means ‘unusual or extraordinary‘ but it really means ‘the only one of its kind, unparalleled‘. Perhaps a small  distinction, but an important one! One might even argue, a … unique … difference!

And how are we suppose supposed to keep track of all these meanings and misspellings? Sometimes, I could care less  couldn’t care less!

And for all intensive purposes  intents and purposes, this post will attempt to clear up everything ….. or you’ve got another thing coming  you’ve got another think coming!

And tomorrow’s post will definitely be a complete 360  complete 180!

IrregardlessRegardless of any of my posts, I hope everyone is staying at home, healthy and safe! No misunderstandings about taking care of yourselves these days!

Here are a few more very interesting sites about misunderstood and mispronounced words and a few other fun sites about .. words, comedy and plays on words! That might be another post in the future too!

  1. 10 Commonly Misunderstood Words in English
  2. 33 Commonly Misunderstood Words & Phrases (Infographic)
  3. THE 58 MOST COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS AND PHRASES
  4. Commonly Misunderstood Words in English
  5. 12 Most Misunderstood English Words. You Will Know Their Meanings Now!
  6. 20 Misused Words That Make Smart People Look Dumb
  7. 10 common phrases you’re getting wrong
  8. Why It’s Not So Unreasonable to Spell “Espresso” With an X

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

The Princess Bride
Inconceivable Clips

Greatest Comedy Skit
of ALL TIME!

10 Misunderstood
Words or Phrases

Top 5 Mispronounced and
Misunderstood Words

10 Commonly Misunderstood
Words in English

10 Misunderstood Words
in English (Part #1)

Top 10 Misheard Lyrics
(Mondegreens)

Top 10 Funniest
Homer Simpson Quotes

 

 

 

 

 

The Oldest Languages in the World

The Oldest Languages . . .
in the World . . .

Please pass the brocolli! I very much doubt that was even close to the first use of language – written or spoken!

But it does pose some interesting questions that have puzzled researchers for many years – what IS the oldest language – written and/or spoken? There are over 7000 currently spoken in the world today. But how many have existed, historically and which one is the oldest?

Currently, about 7,000 languages are spoken around the world. They belong to different language families and their origins date back thousands of years ago. Researchers are still finding it difficult to determine which language is the oldest. However, the earliest written languages on record are the cuneiform script that was discovered in Mesopotamia that dates back to 8th millennium BC. The Sumerian script that started in the 3rd millennium BC was developed for funerary inscriptions because the Sumerians were concerned about their afterlife.

In a previous post, I suggested that MATH is actually the ‘The Original and Universal Language‘ and that is true.

Now I want to consider spoken and/or written languages. A great conversation would have been with Pythagoras and his famous theory, but …. I am angling for a different post topic! Fun Fact – there are over 367 unique proofs of a² + b² = c² ! More than one a day for a year! WOW! There is even a TED Talk too!

My first guess would have been Latin, and it IS considered one of the oldest. And then, maybe, Egyptian, with beautiful heiroglyphics. Nope. Definitely the oldest in Egypt itself though!

Surely  Greek,  ranks right up there too? Nope, but definitely one of the oldest spoken languages in Europe! My coffee buddy, Nik from Folegandros, would certainly argue it is the oldest, but again, nope!

Okay, I am running out of guesses – thus displaying my woeful lack of Archeological Linguistics – even though I did pass Linguistics 100 at the University of Calgary in 1977!

My last guess … it has to be right … is …  CHINESE, ! Ah, close, but still not the oldest language!

Okay, I give up … the oldest language is …. TAMIL! And it is still spoken today!

Tamil

By order of appearance, Tamil would be considered the world’s oldest language as it is over 5,000 years old, having made its first appearance in 3,000 BC. The literature collection in Tamil, which is a classical language, is very vast. It is also varied. Tamil is very much a living language and thousands of newspapers are still published in the language.

It is believed that Tamil started around 2500 BC.

It is still widely spoken and an official language in Singapore, Sri Lanka. In India, first language speakers live in some 34 territories and states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Kerala, Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Assam

And many other candidates do make the list of oldest known languages, including, but not limited to: Latin, Armenian, Korean, Hebrew, Aramic, Sanskrit, Arabic and Lithuanian.

Each workday (at home!) during this pandemic, I pick a quasi-random topic, usually language related or perhaps math or even computers and I surprise myself each day with what I find out!

I am also slowly adding a few new future topics to discover and one fun topic might be ‘Top 10 Words that are Misunderstood … or … The Princess Bride Inconceivability!” Another future topic might be the exact OPPOSITE of The Oldest Words, the NEWEST WORDS!

Here are a few more very interesting sites about more ‘oldest languages’:

  1. What are the World’s Oldest Languages?
  2. What Is The Oldest Language Ever Discovered?
  3. What are the world’s oldest languages?
  4. 10 Oldest Written Languages in The World
  5. 10 of the World’s Oldest Languages Still Used Today
  6. The 10 Oldest Languages Still Spoken in the World Today
  7. The 10 Oldest Languages still spoken in the World Today
  8. These are the 10 oldest jokes in human history

And who knows, maybe the oldest language is really …  DOLPHIN, .. Carl Sagan might have thought so!

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

Is Tamil the Oldest Language
in the World?

5 Oldest Languages
in the World

What’s the World’s Oldest Language?

What are the World’s
Oldest Languges?

What is the World’s Oldest Language
Still Spoken Today

List of Top 10
Oldest Languages in the World

Homer Simpson
The Pythagorean Theorem

 

 

“It seems to be a grant application!”

 

 

 

 

Funniest Words in the English Language

Funniest Words in . . .
the English Language . . .

Grub. Yes, grub. That was the funniest word EVER for me .. in Grade 1!

I had never heard the word ‘grub‘ before and it sounded so ridiculous and … FUNNY! Oh, sure … it makes me chuckle NOW, but what are some words that really ARE funny … at least to me, now! I have posted about ‘The Funniest Languages in the World‘ but this post will be about Funny English words!

According to Wikipedia :

“Certain words have been suggested to be inherently funny. Vaudeville tradition holds that words with the letter k are funny. A 2015 study at the University of Alberta suggested that the humor of certain nonsense words can be explained by whether they seem rude, and by the property of entropy – the improbability of certain letters being used together in a word.“

Yeah, I was as surprised as you were, that there was an actual Wikipedia article about ‘Inherently Funny Words’! And turns out, there might even be a science to it!

“From whong to quingel: the science of funny words” the basic theory is that words have entropy. And ….

“Well, what they’ve found is a strong inverse correlation between funniness and a property called entropy. This is a way of expressing how usual the letters in the NW are – so the less commonly they’re used in English, the lower the total entropy of the NW. To put it another way, the less “wordy” these NWs are, the more they strike us as humorous.”

I guess it takes a research scientist to take the fun out of research, even if the research is ABOUT FUN! LOL!

To me, a word is funny because it invokes a memory of something funny, a ridiculous idea, a sound that does not sound ‘right’ or even how a person pronounces it! I actually think the word ‘ORANGE‘ is very funny! And probably because …NOTHING RHYMES WITH  ‘ORANGE‘ ! Well, actually, there might be….

And guess what the following words have in common …. NONE OF THEM HAVE ANY RHYMES EITHER!

silver, purple, month, ninth, pint, wolf, opus, dangerous, marathon and discombobulate.

And sticking with the word ‘ORANGE‘ is a an interesting ‘Chicken vs Egg’ controversy … which came first … the colour or the fruit! 

And don’t think that English ALONE has funny words. A future post will decribe Funny Canadian Words and Slang Phrases, a taste of which is below in a YouTube video!

Okay, going on the record, my list, in no particular order, some of my favourite funny words are:

Orange, Lollygag, Gonzo, Doozy, Malarkey, Gobbledygook, Flerken, Brouhaha,  Stupendous, … and of course, the most ubiquitous word in the entire English-Canadian Dictionary … “‘eh!” And the most famous Canadian political words ever spoken … Fuddle Duddle!

And the single greatest cartoon strip of ALL TIME is Calvin & Hobbes, which also introduced many funny and amazing words – that only a Tiger and a 6-year old would understand! There just might be future post involving Calvin & Hobbes too! 

    1. The 100 Funniest Words in English
    2. The 10 funniest words in the English language according to science
    3. The 100 Funniest Words in English
    4. 75+ Funny Words That Will Discombobulate You
    5. 34 of the Craziest Words in English
    6. 23 Stupendous Vocabulary Words I Learned From ‘Calvin & Hobbes’

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

40 Funny Sounding
English Words

5 Funny English Words
and Their English Meanings

Weekly English Words with Alisha 
Funny Sounding Words

Top Funniest Words
in the English Language

How to Speak Like a Canadian
21 Funny Canadian
Slang Words and Phrases

Funny Sounding Words
From Around the World

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancient Technology . . . or Be Kind to Your Digital Elders!

Ancient Technology . . .
or . . .
. . . Be Kind to Your Digital Elders

Where we you in … no, not ’62, but 1984!!!

1984 immediately brings to mind two thing – my Grade 12 class on George Orwell’s novel and … the introduction of the original Macintosh computer … and that famous commercial, broadcast only ONCE, during the Super Bowl that year. It is considered The Greatest Commercial of All Time!

But did you know that it was originally introduced by none other than Steve Jobs at an Apple meeting? And of course, this is made available through the magic of … YouTube!

Steve Jobs Introduces the 
Macintosh for the FIRST TIME!

 

When I originally started in The CALL Facility in 1989, there was ONE SINGLE SOLITARY MACINTOSH IN THE ENTIRE ROOM! The rest were all IBM computers. Yes, IBM!!!

It had been about 5 years since the original Mac had been introduced and made commercially available, but it had one unique incredible feature – it was the only computer (to the best of my knowledge back then!) that offered different operating systems (known back then as System 6) in DIFFERENT LANGUAGES!

To switch to Japanese, the ONLY other fully functional operating system that was installed at the time, required a full reboot after ‘blessing’ a folder that contained … the Japanese Operating System! And then, when finished, the same procedure had to be performed … IN JAPANESE, to reboot and return to System 6!

I think the very first document I ever produced in The CALL Facility .. was how to switch from English to Japanese and then back to English in System 6.0 on the only Mac, probably in all of Clearhue!

And there is my segue into languages! Communication! Ideas! Imagination! Cooperation!

This so-called ‘New Normal’ that we are now wrapped up in, still requires teamwork and literally thinking ‘outside the box’ that was our previous workplace location! We are truly … reinventing the box, while simultaneously physically being outside of our boxes! 👍

Truly astonishing that we can ZOOM, text, email, video and phone so easily now – and that allows us to maintain communications, both social and professional, with the click of a button! 30 years ago, this would have been in the realm of Harry Potter kind of magic .. and Harry Potter didn’t exist until 1997!

I still have some ‘ancient technology’ including my first ever computer, a Commodore SX-64, outrageously described as a ‘portable computer’ weighing in at a whopping 23 POUNDS!

A few years ago – 2017 seems SO long ago now – Systems had an Open House with the theme of ‘Time Travellers – Meet the Team – Systems Through Time‘ and it was a ‘Blast from our Past‘!

And both my Mac SE that I bought in 1989 and my venerable SX-64 are still working! Amazing! 

The CALL Facility – 30th Anniversary!

A few great articles to take you down Memory Lane here:

  1. Happy 35th Birthday to Apple’s Original Macintosh
  2. Happy 35th Birthday, Apple!
  3. Happy 35th birthday, Macintosh! Here are 7 wild photos from the 1984 release
  4. Happy 35th birthday, Macintosh! Here are 11 wild photos from the 1984 release

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

Old Computers Did it Better

Evolution of Laptops
and Portable Computers (1975-2020)

Macintosh 128K 
Vintage Computer Review

Macintosh 1984 Promotional Video 
WITH Bill Gates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Oldest Word in the English Language . . . or Maybe the First?

The Oldest Word . . .
in the English Language . . .
. . . or Maybe the First?

What is, or perhaps might be, the oldest word in the English language? Could it be the FIRST word too?

Well, according to a 2009 study, the oldest words are, according to “Today I Discovered The Oldest Words In The English Language“:

According to a 2009 study by researchers at Reading University, the oldest words in the English language include “I“, “we“, “who“, “two” and “three“, all of which date back tens of thousands of years. The discovery was made by tracking the divergence of ancestral words into different languages (including English) with an IBM supercomputer.

And that makes SO much sense! Self awareness, consciousness, self-identity and the famous phrase from René Descartes, “Cogito, ergo sum” or as we know it better, “I think, therefore I am“. And how wonderfully ironic that an IBM supercomputer was used too!

And numbers too! I previously posted about “The Original and Universal Language of Math” so that ties in quite well too!

And from another favourite website, Dictionary.com – The Oldest Words In The English Language, comes their roster of oldest words and it appeals to the poet in all of us!

In an unrelated study, the linguistic boffins at Dictionary.com revealed the oldest words in their online dictionary, although these only go back to 900AD or so. They include “love“, “black” (which predates “white” by a significant margin), “mother“, “give“, “man/woman“, “fire“, “hand“, “hear“, “pull“, “spit” and “worm“. Interestingly, “old” itself is one of the oldest words in the English language. As Dictionary.com explains:

Other authorities post similar results and go one step further, “Scientists discover oldest words in the English language and predict which ones are likely to disappear in the future” by predicting which words will become obsolete!

Babbel is another great resource for language and word information, and they list their ‘Oldest Words in The English Language‘ as well. All very similar and all fascinating in their reasons.

And what happens AFTER the first word is used? LANGUAGES! A future post will discuss the ‘Oldest Languages in the World‘!

So, just think about it … every time you say a sentence such as, “I am going on a coffee break!”, “We should order pizza tonight!”, “Who wants to go to Tofino for two or three nights?” . . .  you are using the oldest words in the English language! Even the pizza … check my list below for The First Ever Pizza Delivery! 

Words come and words go. There was even a 40 New Words That Were Added to the Dictionary in 2019. And that too will be a future OAC Bog Blog topic – how do new words come into existence?

And of course, a bit of frivolity here, with some other dubious and historical ‘Firsts’ or ‘Oldest’ using words, of course!

  1. The First Ever Morse Code Sent
  2. The First Speech Transmitted by Telephone
  3. The First Message on ‘The Internet’
  4. The First Text Message Ever Sent Was 25 Years Ago
  5. The Oldest Known Riddle
  6. The World’s Oldest Joke (1900 BC)
  7. 14 Old-Fashioned Words for Writers
  8. The First Ever …. Pizza Delivery! (especially nowadays!)

As long as there are words out there, there will be interesting topics! 

ENJOY!                TTFN!

 

 

What are the Oldest Words
in the World?

What’s the Earliest
English Word?

The World’s Oldest
English Dictionary

15,000 Year Old Words 
We Still Use

‘May I say how delightful it is to hear he use of the word ‘Egad’.’