Author: Nick Nicholas

Website:
http://www.opoudjis.net
About this author:
Data analyst, Greek linguist

How does the linguistic concept of “time depth” compare to the intuition of “language age”?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-06 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Not very well. Linguists have an understanding of some languages being more conservative in certain aspects than others. Informed by history, they also have a notion of how far back two languages branched apart. Linguists are quite reluctant to make the further claim that one language is overall more archaic than another, compared to their […]

Do words have intrinsic meaning? Does it make sense to argue over the definition of a word?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-06 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Do words have intrinsic meaning? No. The meaning of words is negotiated constantly (and mostly unconsciously) within a community. That’s why meanings change. Meaning inheres not in the word but in the community, because language as a code inheres in the community. Where by code, I mean a mapping of forms to meanings, which enables […]

trice

By: | Post date: 2017-04-06 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: English, Linguistics

A doctor has suggested me Combiflam trice a day for five days for a liquid problem discharge in my breast. Is it fine? What are some amazing pictures one has to see trice to understand? If the value of each letter in the alphabet series is made trice of its serial number then L-H+O=? … […]

In your country, what are high-prestige and low-prestige languages for L2 speakers?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-06 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Other Languages

Thirty years ago, the most popular languages to learn at school in Australia were those that have inherited prestige from Britain: French, with German a somewhat distant second. They are being overtaken now by Spanish and Chinese and Japanese, but they remain entrenched, particularly in elite schools. The French lecturers I use to hang out […]

Are “humility” and “humiliate” related?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: English, Linguistics

Yes. Using tools from Online Etymology Dictionary: Humilis is Latin for humble. Humble is Old French humble < *humle < *humile < humilis. Humility is from Latin humilitas “humbleness”, which comes from humilis. Humiliate is to make someone feel like crap: you’re humbling them, you’re making them feel low (which is actually what humilis originally […]

Is the culture on Corfu any different than in the rest of Greece considering it was never occupied by the Ottomans?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Modern Greek

I’ve wanted to know the answer to this question bad enough, that I want to spend time in Corfu or Zante next time I’m in Greece. Though as a friend has justly pointed out to me, there’s no way I’d grok the cultural differences between the Ionian Islands and the rest of Greece as a […]

In “whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her,” might that ‘to’ indicate a purpose clause?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Mediaeval Greek

To corroborate John Simpson’s answer to In “whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her,” might that ‘to’ indicate a purpose clause?: The Greek literally says Ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ βλέπων γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτῆς, ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὑτοῦ, “towards the desiring of her”. That “towards” is […]

How did the world’s major countries all conform to using first and last names from an early era?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-05 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Linguistics, Mediaeval Greek, Other Languages

Surname – Wikipedia Surnames seems to have been invented independentishly in Europe at a similar time: they were reintroduced after the Roman three-way names fell out of use in the West. From Wikipedia, I see it’s a messy web of transmission. Wikipedia suggests (not very loudly) that the Modern Western notion of surnames was transmitted […]

As a non-Latin script writer, how often do you use Latin script?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Modern Greek, Writing Systems

It was only when I read Dimitris Almyrantis’ response, that I realised the question refers to the ad hoc use of ASCII romanisations online—such as Greeklish for Greek, Finglish for Persian, Arabic chat alphabet, Informal romanizations of Cyrillic, and so on. So my answer will be along the same lines as his and Alice Tsymbarevich’s: […]

Can the U0001f4a6 emoji be used to represent semen?

By: | Post date: 2017-04-04 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Writing Systems

Yes; see Why is the splashing sweat emoji associated with semen? For evidence that this is happening: Definitions offered by the public under: U0001f4a6 Sweat Droplets Emoji Urban Dictionary: U0001f4a6 A boy sends this emoji when he is horny. ” Hey send nudes?? [math]unicode{x1F4A6}unicode{x1F4A6}[/math]” A girl would send this to her man, basically telling him […]

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