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Day: November 7, 2016
Why do people use “Nope” even though “No” is easier to say and shorter to spell?
A2A by Z-Kat. Marc Ettlinger’s is the definitive answer: Marc Ettlinger’s answer to Why do people use “Nope” even though “No” is easier to say and shorter to spell? —but I was a research assistant for a guy who worked on labiovelars, and I’ve mentioned it here. (No doubt Z-Kat saw the comment.) So supplemental […]
Who are some people you know who became fluent in a foreign language as an adult?
Here’s one. Chie Hama. She was doing an MA in my linguistics department, under A/Prof Janet Fletcher. I’ve googled Chie; she’s now tutoring down the road at RMIT, but RMIT doesn’t give its casual tutors much of a web presence. Chie Hama came to Australia from Japan. Chie swore to us blind that she did […]
What’s the best translation of the intensifier “the fuck” in other languages?
Modern Greek. “What” (τι) questions will have σκατά “shit” inserted after it: τι κοιτάζεις “what are you looking at” > τι σκατά κοιτάζεις “what shit are you looking at”. The more generic intensifiers are στο διάολο “to the devil”, for interrogative sentences, or ρε γαμώτο “for fuck’s sake; literally hey, I fuck it”, for other […]