Innovative Usage Thread

[Raphael]

A small label on the cover of my 2026 wall calendar:

fff.jpg (82.87 KiB) Viewed 9069 times

Posting this here to note that apparently, the phrase "fun facts" is now a regular part of the German language. Or at least the designers of that calendar cover thought it is.

[Lērisama]

A small label on the cover of my 2026 wall calendar:

fff.jpg

Posting this here to note that apparently, the phrase "fun facts" is now a regular part of the German language. Or at least the designers of that calendar cover thought it is.

The hyphenation is innovative as well! (Although usual for loans, I think.)

[Raphael]

The hyphenation is innovative as well! (Although usual for loans, I think.)

Well, German doesn't really have a tradition of forming a noun phrase out of several words that aren't at least hyphenated.

[Lērisama]

The hyphenation is innovative as well! (Although usual for loans, I think.)

Well, German doesn't really have a tradition of forming a noun phrase out of several words that aren't at least hyphenated.

Yes, the hyphenation is the less innovative innovation¹

¹ Try saying that 5 times!

[Raphael]

Earlier this week, I overheard a German-language conversation between three young women or teenage girls on a bus during which one of them kept addressing the other two with the English word "bro".

[Man in Space]

Spotted on YouTube, emphasis mine:

Kendall Jenner standing behind Lewis Hamilton (her ex who's now dating her older sister) while dancing to Bad Bunny (her other ex) accepting the 2026 Grammy for Album of the Year from Harry Styles (her another ex) is a level of multiverse chaos we were not prepared for

Use of “another” in this context is new to me (intuitively I’d say “her other other ex”, “(yet/still) another of her exes”, “ex number three”, or probably “a/her third ex”).

[Man in Space]

Via YouTube (it should play from the timestamp):

I very first saw her [Mary Wickes] in the I Love Lucy episode ‟The Ballet”. . .

I very first Xed is a new construction to me, though I find it rather intuitive.

[Richard W]

The (im)possibility of sound changes in languages of immortals are a subject frequently discussed among Tolkien fans.

I'm increasingly seeing agreement of the verb with the last element of a noun phrase rather than with the number of the head, even where it cannot be described as agreement with sense. Have others noticed such an increase? Is it a consequence of a parsing error in grammar checkers? Is it just attraction? Is it merely that I've become sensitised to these misconstructions?

[WeepingElf]

The (im)possibility of sound changes in languages of immortals are a subject frequently discussed among Tolkien fans.

I'm increasingly seeing agreement of the verb with the last element of a noun phrase rather than with the number of the head, even where it cannot be described as agreement with sense. Have others noticed such an increase? Is it a consequence of a parsing error in grammar checkers? Is it just attraction? Is it merely that I've become sensitised to these misconstructions?

It was just a mistake in this case.

[Raphael]

The (im)possibility of sound changes in languages of immortals are a subject frequently discussed among Tolkien fans.

I'm increasingly seeing agreement of the verb with the last element of a noun phrase rather than with the number of the head, even where it cannot be described as agreement with sense. Have others noticed such an increase? Is it a consequence of a parsing error in grammar checkers? Is it just attraction? Is it merely that I've become sensitised to these misconstructions?

It was just a mistake in this case.

But that raises the question of how often serious language changes start out as mistakes.

[WeepingElf]

I'm increasingly seeing agreement of the verb with the last element of a noun phrase rather than with the number of the head, even where it cannot be described as agreement with sense. Have others noticed such an increase? Is it a consequence of a parsing error in grammar checkers? Is it just attraction? Is it merely that I've become sensitised to these misconstructions?

It was just a mistake in this case.

But that raises the question of how often serious language changes start out as mistakes.

You are of course correct! Common mistakes at some point cease being mistakes and become acceptable usage - after all, correct usage is defined by what the speakers of the language do.

[alice]

correct usage is defined by what the speakers of the language do.

No, it is defined by the will of the... oh never mind, we're all fallen anyway.

[zompist]

You are of course correct! Common mistakes at some point cease being mistakes and become acceptable usage - after all, correct usage is defined by what the speakers of the language do.

Hmm. On one hand, this is completely correct... after all, every sound change started out as a "mistake", usually a simplification. And in all areas of language we see usages condemned by one generation of grammarians becoming standard later on. (Of course historical linguists love those condemnations, because they're evidence that the change in question was already common.)

On the other hand, if language is what speakers do, then there really is no theoretical idea of a mistake, and that sounds wrong. I do think speakers follow rules, but that those rules are those of their own idiolect, not those of some grammarian. And we can violate our own rules, if only out of carelessness. (I don't assume that we know our own rules; in phonology and in syntax it's easy to demonstrate that we mostly don't. Linguists have ways of teasing those rules out.)

E.g. since the invention of the keyboard, surely two of the commonest tokens in English text are "hte" and "het". They are something writers do, but those writers themselves would agree that it's a mistake for "the". Of course a few spelling mistakes have become slang and then acceptable, e.g. "OK" (19th century) and "pwn".

[Travis B.]

E.g. since the invention of the keyboard, surely two of the commonest tokens in English text are "hte" and "het". They are something writers do, but those writers themselves would agree that it's a mistake for "the". Of course a few spelling mistakes have become slang and then acceptable, e.g. "OK" (19th century) and "pwn".

But mind you "teh" has managed to become a new article in English which is not equivalent in usage to "the"...

[zompist]

E.g. since the invention of the keyboard, surely two of the commonest tokens in English text are "hte" and "het". They are something writers do, but those writers themselves would agree that it's a mistake for "the". Of course a few spelling mistakes have become slang and then acceptable, e.g. "OK" (19th century) and "pwn".

But mind you "teh" has managed to become a new article in English which is not equivalent in usage to "the"...

From some quick Googling, the only usage referred to is a 90s form of irony, like typing "lmao!!!11" Do you have something else in mind?

[Travis B.]

E.g. since the invention of the keyboard, surely two of the commonest tokens in English text are "hte" and "het". They are something writers do, but those writers themselves would agree that it's a mistake for "the". Of course a few spelling mistakes have become slang and then acceptable, e.g. "OK" (19th century) and "pwn".

But mind you "teh" has managed to become a new article in English which is not equivalent in usage to "the"...

From some quick Googling, the only usage referred to is a 90s form of irony, like typing "lmao!!!11" Do you have something else in mind?

I mean that 'teh' is used in fashions where it is not entirely interchangeable with 'the' -- e.g. speaking of 'teh Revolución' mocks the concept of 'the revolution' to a greater degree than simply 'the Revolución' does.

[zompist]

But mind you "teh" has managed to become a new article in English which is not equivalent in usage to "the"...

From some quick Googling, the only usage referred to is a 90s form of irony, like typing "lmao!!!11" Do you have something else in mind?

I mean that 'teh' is used in fashions where it is not entirely interchangeable with 'the' -- e.g. speaking of 'teh Revolución' mocks the concept of 'the revolution' to a greater degree than simply 'the Revolución' does.

OK, but that's what I meant by irony. It's not really a word meaning, any more than saying words in an exaggerated sarcastic tone.

[alice]

E.g. since the invention of the keyboard, surely two of the commonest tokens in English text are "hte" and "het".

I've never actually seen this, and if I did, I might assume it's some subconscious Dutch influence.