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Month: May 2016
This is no Fun and Games, this is the Balkans!
Whenever a Greek wants to nod sagely about the mess that is and ever has been the Balkans (and to admit that they too are stuck in the mess), they’ll mutter Εδώ είναι Βαλκάνια δεν είναι παίξε–γέλασε. “This is no Fun and Games, this is the Balkans!” I was going to cite the bon mot, […]
How is “attention” said in different languages?
The following poster for tram safety in Melbourne includes a suite of languages. I had nothing to do with the entry on the second column, third row. … which is Klingon: qIm. Answered 2016-05-12 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/How-is-attention-said-in-different-languages/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
Does Australia have regional accents, like in Canada or the USA?
As others have said, Australian regional variation is nowhere near as great as even the US, let alone Britain. (You mean Canada has regional accents?) The main variation in Australia historically has been class-based (Cultivated, General, Broad), with less well-studied variation between rural and urban, and with an interesting in-group variant among 2nd generation immigrants […]
Why did you decide to learn Esperanto?
Curiosity piqued by books about language, which mentioned it in passing. Starting with the three-paragraph article on Esperanto in World Book Encyclopedia. Then finding a couple of textbooks in my local public library, at the age of 13. The same reason I went on to learn Lojban and Klingon, I have to say. Updated 2016-05-09 […]
What is the etymology of Limassol, the English version of the Cypriot city ‘Lemesos’?
I don’t know. I’ll build on Sid Kemp’s answer, and to use what online resources tell me. Nemesos is used by Sophronius of Jerusalem (7th century), Anna Komnene (11th century), and the Byzantine lists of bishops. Lemesos is used by Leontios Machairas (15th century), and the vernacular Byzantine chronicles (15th century). The Turkish forms are […]
How and why does religiosity vary among Greek immigrant communities?
Question comes from my contrasting the attitude to religiosity among Greek-Australians and Greek-Americans. In the 1990s, Greeks were only coming up to second generation in Australia. The attitude to religion was akin to what it was in the home country: more about group identity and tradition than about a (how do Evangelicals put it?) personal […]
Why were there (apparently) more homosexual men in Ancient Greece than today?
In traditional Modern Greek society, there was a stigmatised group of gay men: poustides. In traditional Ancient Greek society, there was a stigmatised group of gay men: kinaidoi. The stigma in antiquity was more about being a bottom (i.e. about power) than about having sex with males per se. What was not stigmatised was homosexual […]
What are some suboptimal design decisions of Esperanto?
I really don’t like this kind of question. As many on Quora and outside Quora have said, optimal design is not how a language prevails; language typology is not about better and worse but different; and the defensive Esperanto assertion that Esperanto has an internal cohesion is quite true. *sigh* That said, if there is […]
What are some signs of Venetian and Genovese influence in the Greek islands (and Cyprus)?
Not aware of any Russian influence; 7 years was short, and I’m not aware that the Russian presence was substantial. The British did leave behind ginger beer and cricket. Venetian and Genoese influence that I know of includes: Substantial Italian, Venetian and Genoese lexicon in the dialects of the Greek islands. When my grandmother told […]
To whom Constantinople and Byzantium legacy belong to, Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria?
To anyone who claims it. I mean, seriously, what are you going to do? Sue the claimants you don’t like in the Hague? It belongs to the Greeks, who continue to call the City Constantinople and the empire Byzantine, Andrew Baird nothwithstanding, whose literary and church culture is suffused with Byzantium, and whose language if […]