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Day: December 9, 2016
What is your favorite proverb from your culture or country? What country is it from?
I did a rich assortment of off-colour Greek proverbs over at Nick Nicholas’ answer to What are some weird expressions? A tuthree more off-colour sayings. Which I’ve actually tried to use in English, with decidedly mixed results. Τα μεταξωτά βρακιά θέλουν και επιδέξιους κώλους. Silk undies require agile arses. One must be equipped to handle […]
Is pronunciation speed a meaningful feature when discussing languages?
I don’t know that this has really attracted the interest of typologists, though I’m happy to be corrected. The phonologist I used to work for as a research assistant was considering writing an article, comparing the speed of newcasts, but I don’t think he went ahead with it. I think the impression we have that […]
How did the surname “Featherstonhaugh” get its completely unintuitive pronunciation?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Featherstonhaugh Not getting an answer online, or in Patrick Hanks’ The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland . I do get this from Wells, J. C. (2000), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary: Odd pronunciations of proper names – examples: there are four recorded pronunciations of Featherstonhaugh: /ˈfɛð ərst ən hɔː/ (Featherstonhaw) /ˈfiːst ən heɪ/ […]