colonel
Since when does colo=ker. For the word ‘colonel’ we say “kernel,” but we don’t say “kerol” for the word ‘color.’ Its just a total disregard for any spelling rules whatsoever.
8 comments • Posted in Misc
statement
Which statement is correct?
1. The patient has never undergone a colonoscopy.
2. The patient has never underwent a colonoscopy.
5 comments • Posted in Misc
The way the English talk. Bothering details
I suppose I should know the answer to this observation as an Englishman, but I don’t. I listen to the BBC news and I frequently hear the word “headquarters” pronounced as “headcorters”, “Quebec” pronounced as “Kebec” and the word “one” pronounced as “won” with the “o” as in “hot”. When I lived in England 32 years ago I never seemed to hear these pronunciations and they bother me now. I always pronounce “qu” as “qw” and “one” as “wun” (”u” as in “hut”). Are they really just affected speech fads that will die out? Merry Christmas to all
10 comments • Posted in Misc
One Love
I would like to know more about the meaning of the popular song, One Love, by Bob Marley. It’s especially popular now in the States because of the current tv ads on traveling to Jamaica. Thank you!
6 comments • Posted in Misc
Afraid not
Is the phrase “I’m afraid not,” such as in the below exchange, an idiom? It does not seem to make sense to me.
“May I please have the newspaper?” “I’m afraid not.”
Would that construction not indicate “I am not afraid?” To me, it seems that perhaps the phrase came from the shortening of “I’m afraid I can not” by dropping the “can” which completely ruins the ability of the phrase to make logical sense.
Even if I am correct in my assumptions, the phrase is still commonly used and understood. However, in formal writing, should I purposely avoid using this phrase due to my above concerns?
11 comments • Posted in Misc
“Tilting at Windmills”
After doing a brief search and thinking a bit, I cannot come to an answer to the question of what “Tilting at windmills” means or where such a phrase may have come from.
What does “tilting at windmills” mean or symbolize? What are some usages?
Thanks.
35 comments • Posted in Misc
Is it sunday or sunduh?
My wife and I have this ongoing battle over the word sundae. She always pronounces it sunDUH while I say it’s sunDAY because when they were first made, one could only get the ice-cream treat on Sunday. She says I’m nuts - I say she’s kinda douchey. Who’s correct - anyone know?
9 comments • Posted in Misc
silent autumn
Does anybody know why the ‘n’ in the word ‘autumn’ is silent? May it be possible that the ‘n’ sound got lost somewhere at some point in the historical development of English? Or maybe our ancestors mispronounced this word and such is the case up to this day? Or is it just a matter of the English phonology system, which does not allow for pronouncing ‘mn’ clusters? Can any phonologist help?
57 comments • Posted in Misc
Proper Names
What’s the linguistic term for the words derived from proper names (e.g. Dianaphiles, Blarism, Clintonite, Ophranisation, MacDonaldisation)?
5 comments • Posted in Misc
Wiener Coffee
At a dinner last night, my friend at the table put a scoop of whipped cream on his cup of coffee. I then asked, “That’s called Wiener Coffee, right?” Everyone laughed, but I wasn’t joking. As funny as “wiener” may sound, “Wien” is the proper name for “Vienna”, and “Wiener” the proper adjective for “Viennese”. In fact the word “wiener” to mean a type of sausage came from wienerwurst, “Viennese Sausage”.
Then someone else at the table said that the word “India” is never used among Indians. The same goes for “Japan” too. The proper name is “Nihon”. It seems that every non-English speaking country has an alternative name that has nothing to do with the original. Why is this? Why are English speakers compelled to ignore the original and invent their own? (Or, perhaps, this has nothing to do with English.)
The reason why I knew about “Wiener Coffee” is because in Japan, they honor the original names of most countries.
16 comments • Posted in Misc
Pronouns
Is there a non-gendered 3rd person singular pronoun that could be used in the place of that awkward he/she? If not, what about ze?
13 comments • Posted in Misc
Will-Call
Try as I might I cannot find out anything about the origin of WILL CALL as in “You can pick up your theatre tickets at the WILL CALL window.” Any enlightenment will be deeply appreciated.
2 comments • Posted in Misc
Silk and Silkworm
Silk is made from thread of silkworms. The fact that the word “silkworm” contains the word “silk” would imply that the worm was named after silk, but without the worm, we would have no silk. Does this mean that when they first made silk, they had no name for the worm, and they named the worm after the fact?
6 comments • Posted in Misc
Stress pattern in the word ‘totalitarian’
It occurred to me last evening that I pronounce the word ‘totalitarian’ with a major stress on all three [t] sounds. It seems as well that any people I have heard use the word say it that way.
I cannot think of any other English word that has triple major stress. Even double major stress is rare - I can’t think of an example just offhand.
Are there other words in English that have triple major stress?
6 comments • Posted in Misc
It was the coup de’grace of et all!...or was it?
Over the years, I have seen the words “coup de’grace” and “et all.” One day fine day, I decided to look them up and see how they were to be correctly used; unfortunately, I could not find either of them! Perhaps I am spelling them wrong? (Which could very well be the case with “coup de’grace, but I am certain that is how I say “et all” spelt.)
Can someone please tune me in on if these are even words and if so the correct way of spelling and using them?
11 comments • Posted in Misc
