Linguistic Miscellany Thread

[Linguoboy]

In addition to toponyms with the suffix "Spa", "Wells", or "Bath(s)" in the UK, there are also certain towns, villages, boroughs, etc. which have the right to the title of "Royal" whether or not they customarily exercise it. Of these, Royal Wootton Bassett only had the title conferred in 2011, so this is not merely an historical practice.

[vlad]

Many Mexican cities/towns have special political titles, usually derived from the names of presidents or soldiers. Some examples not derived from people's names include de la Independencia ("of Independence"), de los Libres ("of the Free"), del Progreso ("of Progress"), de la Reforma ("of Reform"), de la Unión ("of the Union"), Heroica ("Heroic") and Nacional ("National"). Nacional was a replacement for Real "Royal", adopted after independence.

These newer titles can be combined with the older practice of prefixing placenames with the name of their patron saint, resulting in triple-barrelled names like San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz (named after both a saint and a president).

The longest official placename in Mexico is apparently Heroica Villa Tezoatlán de Segura y Luna, Cuna de la Independencia de Oaxaca ("Heroic Town Tezoatlán of Segura and Luna, Oaxaca's Cradle of Independence"). "Segura" and "Luna" are the names of soldiers.

[Raphael]

Thank you, too!

[jal]

I'm talking about the word "Bad". Usually it means "bath" or "bathroom". In the context of place names, however, it means "spa resort".

And if you got a lot of them, you're called "Baden Baden" :D.


JAL

[AwfullyAmateur]

Le pronom d'objet direct toujours se trouve entre le pronom de sujet et le verbe.

Um… and it is here, isn’t it? le is between je and aime. Unless I’m being very very stupid and missing something obvious…?

EDIT: yes, I missed something obvious, which is that you modified AwfullyAmateur’s quote.

(I think it’s best to keep the other-language discussion in the Fluency thread.)

Oui, mais il started speaking en français so I pensé que I should reply in turn.

That would be elle a commence parler en francais, si it's no trouble. I know it can be be difficile when there's no voice or visage.

[Darren]

That would be elle a commence parler en francais, si it's no trouble. I know it can be be difficile when there's no voice or visage.

Ah sorry mon bad

[AwfullyAmateur]

It's no problem. Je ne crois pas que I've ever said anything about my gender. It's difficult to know, with no voice but the one you imagine.

[Zju]

When did Chinese logograms get rotated ninety degrees clockwise? After all, I doubt people would draw animals with their heads pointing up.

[keenir]

When did Chinese logograms get rotated ninety degrees clockwise? After all, I doubt people would draw animals with their heads pointing up.

No idea, sadly; but as Dr Doofensmirtz says "its weird that it happened twice"...I'd thought it only happened to Sumerian.

I'd like to know about Chinese's rotation as well.

[Raphael]

but as Dr Doofensmirtz says

Is that an actual person or someone you made up?

[Man in Space]

but as Dr Doofensmirtz says

Is that an actual person or someone you made up?

He is a primary antagonist from the Disney cartoon Phineas & Ferb.

[Raphael]

He is a primary antagonist from the Disney cartoon Phineas & Ferb.

Ah, thank you!

[zompist]

When did Chinese logograms get rotated ninety degrees clockwise? After all, I doubt people would draw animals with their heads pointing up.

Some got rotated, but most weren’t… many characters had the same orientation in oracle bone script and today. (No IME on the iPad or I’d give examples.)

[Zju]

Only some? Peculiar. I thought all of them were, much like in Sumerian. How come only some were selectively rotated?

[Raphael]

I have the impression that different English accents, if I'm used to hearing them a lot, sound more similar to each other, and to a kind of "generic standard English", than they probably would if I wouldn't be so used to hearing them. For instance, standard British English and General American English sound almost the same to me, because I hear both of them relatively often.

Has anyone else made similar experiences?

[Travis B.]

I have the impression that different English accents, if I'm used to hearing them a lot, sound more similar to each other, and to a kind of "generic standard English", than they probably would if I wouldn't be so used to hearing them. For instance, standard British English and General American English sound almost the same to me, because I hear both of them relatively often.

Has anyone else made similar experiences?

I watch enough British TV that I don't even really notice SSBE anymore unless I am listening for it, despite the significant phonological differences between SSBE and my own dialect.

[Travis B.]

I have the impression that different English accents, if I'm used to hearing them a lot, sound more similar to each other, and to a kind of "generic standard English", than they probably would if I wouldn't be so used to hearing them. For instance, standard British English and General American English sound almost the same to me, because I hear both of them relatively often.

Has anyone else made similar experiences?

I should also note that SSBE and GA are actually quite similar in the bigger scheme of things. Their main differences are non-rhoticity (in the case of SSBE), the father-bother merger (in the case of GA), variation in realizations of BATH and CLOTH, the loss of phonemic vowel length (in the case of GA), stronger aspiration (in the case of SSBE), intervocalic /t d/ and often /nt/ flapping (in the case of GA), centralization of the starting point of GOAT (in the case of SSBE), opening of the starting point of TRAP (in the case of SSBE), the general loss of the subjunctive (in the case of SSBE), differences in agreement with collective nouns, and some lexical differences (e.g. lift versus elevator, differing pronunciations of lieutenant that cannot be chalked up to phonology).

[Raholeun]

Found this gem in the Tok Pisin dictionary:

gesfaia: Random phone calls made by anonymous callers – strangers who may be either men or women, but are mostly made by men. These calls are made to unknown people with whom lengthy conversations are then conducted, ‘phone friendships’ may then evolve in which gifts of phone credit are transferred.

[Man in Space]

Found this gem in the Tok Pisin dictionary:

gesfaia: Random phone calls made by anonymous callers – strangers who may be either men or women, but are mostly made by men. These calls are made to unknown people with whom lengthy conversations are then conducted, ‘phone friendships’ may then evolve in which gifts of phone credit are transferred.

I can’t tell whether that’s cool, cringe, or disturbing.

[Raholeun]

Bro, are you kidding me? If I ever get called in the middle of the night by a +675 phone number, you bet I am picking up. The chance of Tok Pisin' with my new friend, twirling the telephone wire while discussing sago grub recipes till the sun comes up is not to miss.