Zompist Bboard Again

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2026 11:38 am

Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2026 11:33 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2026 9:47 am Do I get this right that these are called single-track roads in BE and one-lane roads in SAE? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-track_road

I'm familiar with "one-lane road" myself.

Thank you!

I'd say "single track road" or "country lane" myself.

Emily wrote: ↑Thu Oct 15, 2026 2:04 pm anyway! although i don't have it in a ready enough state for the relay game, i have made progress and updates:

I don't have anything specific to say but, ‘wow!’; count yourself as having gained another Modern Gothic admirer.

A bandaid is a type of bandage to me. I think I would consider a bandaid/plaster to be merely a type of bandage. (Like Travis, I recognise ‘plaster’ but it is not part of my native vocabulary with this meaning.) Okay. For me the generic term is ‘dressing’¹, and I'd consider ‘plaster’ (bandaid) and ...

To me "plaster" is very marked and is not a word that is in my vocabulary with that meaning. I watch quite a bit of British TV yet the word still sticks out as being very foreign to me in this usage. What would you call a bandage then, as opposed to a bandaid/plaster? Do you just not dist...

if you really want to avoid brand names, though, you can use "bandage" instead of "bandaid". What‽ I would never have guessed anyone would mean a plaster when they said ‘bandage,’ rather than a gauze or cloth¹ dressing. What do you call a bandage²? ¹ Or also likely weird sterile...

This thread reminded me of a question which crossed my mind recently. I'm sure it's been asked before, but if it hasn't, here it is: Has anyone tried to do a conlang which is what English might have become without French or (much) Norse influence? Obviously there are a number of ways it could go; i...

I've attempted to make a relatively realistic Germanic orthography, including some quirks . Please forgive any errors based on incorrect or missed etymologising. /m n ŋ/ ⟨m n ng⟩ /p b t d k g/ ⟨p b t d k/ck¹ g⟩ /f s ʃ x h/ ⟨f s/z² sch ch h⟩ /v z/ ⟨v s⟩ /w r l j/ ⟨w r l j/i³⟩ /ɪ ʏ ʊ/ ⟨i ü u⟩ /ɛ œ ɔ ə...

Anyone interested in being a beta reader for a quarter of a novel? I'd enjoy it, but I'm not sure how useful I'd be. For the public record, I did, in fact enjoy it, and quite a lot. I can definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks reading fragments of a novel sounds like fun, rather than irritati...

Not directly related to the war, but apparently there has been an outbreak of the literal plague in Siberia over the past few days. Hopefully they get this resolved quickly or it could become the next COVID if not worse. There is something fitting about the threat of plague looming ahead given our ...

Yes, it is. In that context, I'm admittedly rather implausibly assuming that parts of our time's German educational and professional training system survive for a looooooong time into the future. The aspect I'm using is bog-standard non-academic on-the-job training which you can not just put on you...

Travis B. wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2026 10:40 am To me being sick itself does not indicate the act of vomiting. For instance, one can speak of someone who has the flu as being sick without any vomiting involved whatsoever.

Whereas for me they'd be sick, but not necessarily be being sick.

I'd rewrite Raphael's passage as follows: spent the next 40 seconds thinking I might be sick . Then I spent the 20 seconds after that thinking that the worst had passed, that I was starting to feel less bad, and that I'd be fine after all. Then I spent the next 15 seconds actually being sick . Than...

What vowel do people have in the first syllable of "Halloween"? LOT or TRAP? Strangley, I have LOT in "Halloween", but TRAP in "hallowed" and "hallow". TRAP . I associate a LOT in Halloween with North American English, and specifically with LOT s low and cent...

Doesn't "sick" generally mean "about to throw up" in the UK still? or was that just a thing in past English? At least in my own usage, it doesn't mean “about to throw up,” that's rather “to feel sick,” which can also refer to other types of ilness but is prototypically feeling n...

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2026 3:20 pm Anyone interested in being a beta reader for a quarter of a novel?

I'd enjoy it, but I'm not sure how useful I'd be.

1. I think Notenderdude was asking about the formula used to order threads in the fora here, in which case the answer is simple: they're ordered from most-recently posted in first, to least-recently posted-in last. And we do have moderators¹, but they don't tend to² delete messages based on who sent...

True, but it never gets any worse than "three dozen and six", oe "six and three-zen" in practice. I'd find both of those a bit annoying, because 42 says the same a lot more succinctly and without me having to do addition. You have to do addition with 42 too, only you’re more use...

True, but it never gets any worse than "three dozen and six", oe "six and three-zen" in practice. I'd find both of those a bit annoying, because 42 says the same a lot more succinctly and without me having to do addition. That said, I would probably put round numbers in dozens, ...

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 10:14 am No, Kloekhorst never proposed a relationship between IE and Japanese. He proposed that the PIE word for 'name' is derived from a root *h₃neh₃- 'to name, to call' reflected in the Hittite verb ḫannai- 'to call to court'. And that seems to make sense to me.

Ah, sorry I misread that.

hwhatting wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 3:17 am

Zju wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2026 3:15 pm *puts tinfoil hat on*

I assume that refers to the PIE - Japanese relationship? Because the Kloekhorst proposal certainly isn't crackpottery.

Where can I find this? I don't remember seeing anything about that on his website. Admittedly I last checked a while ago.