Zompist Bboard Again

What do you call a book which contains a collection of grammar sketches, e.g. of a language family? The closest I have found is "chrestomathy", but that is rather a collection of sample texts. "Comparative grammar" IMHO doesn't cut it either, as that is rather a book that lays out the developments of sounds, grammatical forms etc. in the daughter languages.

I would just call it a "survey volume". Like the various installments in the Routledge Language Family Series.

The many volumes of the Cambridge Language Surveys published in the 80s, 90s and 2000s did a lot to establish "survey" as a normal if not the normal term for this.

Yes, that's it - a survey. So simple that I missed it - thanks, Linguoboy, thanks, Ser.

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2020 7:41 amYes, that's it - a survey. So simple that I missed it - thanks, Ser.

Yes, thanks, Ser.

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2020 8:18 am

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2020 7:41 amYes, that's it - a survey. So simple that I missed it - thanks, Ser.

Yes, thanks, Ser.

Oh, sorry, fixed that.

...this sort of architectural feature?

"Fake balcony" is the first term that comes to me, although they're sufficiently uncommon where I am (Michigan, USA) that I don't think I've ever actually talked about them.

Juliet balcony?

dewrad wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 10:58 amJuliet balcony?

That's what my neighbour from Michigan calls them and one of the informal names given on the corresponding Wikipedia page. But it's not one I ever use, so I'm curious how widespread it is.

IMO you shouldn't call it a Juliet balcony unless it's deep enough to actually stand on, which the one in the picture is not. I'd call it a fake balcony.

fake balcony

So I've been calling it a "French balcony", which seems to be the most common term on the Continent. But I might just be calquing German "französische Balkon" and this isn't a word that's ever used in native English. (Oddly, Wikipedia chose to title the corresponding article "Balconet", a term which I don't recall ever hearing from an English speaker.)

ngl when I see "balconet" I just think of the bra style (although I think that's spelled "balconette")

I would not at all understand "French balcony", "Juliet balcony", or "balconet", but I'd immediately understand "fake balcony" or (my preference) "false balcony".

To be honest, I would likely say “false balcony” in everyday conversation (like I would refer to the “side of the door” rather than “jamb”, despite being fully aware that the latter is the correct term).

Interesting, I thought a Juliet balcony was a balcony not wide enough to stand on. Like the one pictured. A balcony wide enough to stand on is, well, a balcony, for me.

I'm in the UK. Never heard of a French balcony, and not really accustomed to hearing people say 'fake balcony' or 'false balcony', whereas 'Juliet balcony' is common enough (both as a word and a feature of UK urban architecture) that I've written a post using it on here in the last few days - talking about my own.

Edit: I found this page (British enough to have 'British' in the url) which matches my usage of balcony terms. https://www.britishsc.co.uk/what-is-a-juliet-balcony/

Neon Fox wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 8:31 pm IMO you shouldn't call it a Juliet balcony unless it's deep enough to actually stand on, which the one in the picture is not. I'd call it a fake balcony.

I would extend this same judgement also to the term "French balcony"; though it's not obvious to me from the picture which one it is actually is.

What do you call this?

A thumb drive. I just like the term. I once had a customer who asked me about them and I forget what term she used, but once I started talking she said "oh, so you call it a thumb drive" and that just reinforced my already existing preference.