Author: Nick Nicholas

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

What is a concise Latin translation of “Just because someone does bad things doesn’t mean bad things should happen to them”?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-15 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Latin, Linguistics

Etsi quis mala facit, mala ei ne fiant. Before you get a tat with it, stay tuned for Alberto Yagos to say Yea or Nay. Updated 2016-11-15 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-a-concise-Latin-translation-of-“Just-because-someone-does-bad-things-doesn’t-mean-bad-things-should-happen-to-them”/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]

Is it possible to have a Greek-Turkish Confederation in the future?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-14 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Modern Greek

You know how people put A2A at the top of their answers, because they like the asker, but are ambivalent about the question? Sofia, if we ever meet up for coffee in Oakleigh (you’re a Greek in Melbourne, you probably live inside an Eaton Mall patisserie), I will be asking you: WHY YOU ASK ME […]

How did the word “gaster” come to mean “stomach” in Greek?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-14 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Ancient Greek, Linguistics

You mean, there’s a story there? (Checks Frisk.) Hm. Looks like there’s a story there. gastēr “belly” is likely derived from *grastēr, “something that does graō”. Graō in turn is a really, really obscure word for “gnaw, eat”, that shows up once in Callimachus, and that also turns up in Ancient Cypriot, which was an […]

How does IPA keep up with the constant change of sounds in the languages?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-13 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Writing Systems

Several ways to tackle this question. And it’s a very good question. Both consonants and vowels in the IPA are defined, not against a word of a language (they can indeed change), but against an articulatory gesture. Because people’s oral cavities are pretty much the same, that works. [ç] is defined as a Voiceless palatal […]

What’s the most recent song you’ve cried to?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-12 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Modern Greek, Music

My close followers will have noted a bunch of posts lately on Greek songs that move me. This is another one. What have I done to you, to make you smoke. 1968. Lyrics: Lefteris Papadopoulos. Music: Mimis Plessas. stixoi.info: Τι σου `κανα και πίνεις The lyrics are nowhere near as indirect and allusive as some […]

What is meant by projection problem in semantics?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-11 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Presupposition (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) http://eecoppock.info/Presupposi… Simple clauses have presuppositions. For example, The current king of France is bald presupposes that there is a current king of France. If you do various things to a clause, like negate it, question it, or say it’s unlikely, the claim of the clause is no longer affirmed. But […]

How do linguists view programming languages?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-11 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Linguistics

Read Logan R. Kearsley’s answer to How do linguists view programming languages? Vote #1 Logan R. Kearsley. What he said. Supplemental: At very very most, a linguist programmer will see YACC rules specifying a programming language’s syntax, and think “Oh, how cute. Kinda like phrase structure rules, but ludicrously simpler.” Or, look at the three […]

What are some great threats one can make?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-11 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Modern Greek

NSFW, and rather instructive in attitudes towards anal sex as punishment. There was a threat made by Georgios Karaiskakis, the foul mouthed general of the Greek War of Independence, that I’ve just discovered. It has a kind of magnificent menace to it. For it to even be intelligible in English, I have to cite from […]

Why is the communist symbol (☭) an emoji?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-10 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: General Language, Writing Systems

There are two problematic premises in this question. The first is that the primary semiotic of the hammer and sickle is “mass random murder of dissidents”, rather than “common ownership of the means of production”. The legacy of Communism may have been tainted by what Lenin and Stalin did; but that does not make the […]

What are your favourite lyrics?

By: | Post date: 2016-11-10 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Modern Greek, Music

It’s a self indulgent answer, but then again, it’s a self indulgent question. The Greek laiko tradition (bouzouki pop) came from the Greek rebetiko tradition (bouzouki blues). The rebetiko tradition was singer-songwriters, often in jail, singing about getting high or my woman done me wrong. At its best (and that certainly includes Vamvakaris), the lyrics […]

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