Park
on driveways but drive on parkways. I'm sure you've heard the list of
random quirky things before. Most of them have logical answers. Why do
drive up ATMs have Braille? Because they're all made from the same mold
and installed in different locations.
Others
leave me stumped. For instance. A celery can be referred to as a stalk
(of celery) or a rib (of celery), but what is a carrot? Chuck insists they are noses (of carrots). I have no reason to disbelieve him.
But
what about mushrooms. Boyfriend put forth that they are mushroom caps,
but this syntax does not follow the others (unit of mushrooms) and so I
turn to the interwebs. What is the collective unit of measure of
mushrooms. The ones that come in those little blue plastic container
things.
Other
word weirdness includes being waylaid from sleep (noun) or waylaid
from sleeping (verb). This is not exactly the kind of question google is
good at. Wolfram Alpha likes math better than words so that didn't
help.
These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night.
Some people loose sleep over taxes or relationships or if the new puppy will pee on the carpet.
Today
I googled why two nuts screwed onto a bolt will lock together under
vibration because it came up at work (machine shop) and it bothered me
that I didn't know how this trick worked. It bothered me enough to look
it up before I went on with my day. Wikipedia had an answer for me, btw,
and it has to do with torsional stress on the bolt between the nuts
remaining constant due to nut tensions and therefore
preventing/inhibiting them from working themselves off the bolt.
Also, I dare you to work the word torsional into a blog post. That word is awesomesauce.
Talk to Me Baby: Any weird wordiness that keeps you up at night?
What keeps me up at night is languages or rather the English Language. I am aware that the English speak British English and the Americans speak American English. So,what do the Canadians speak? Or rather,what kind of English do the countries who were colonised by Britain and who speak a mixture of both British and American English speak? Are we to coin for them, their own special brand of English and say that they speak Britam English?
ReplyDeleteI know it's weird, but that is what keeps me up at night.
I wonder if Canadian/Britam English has much French influence. I know there are large swaths of Canada that speak French first, then English second.
DeleteOh, and what about countries that have more than one national language?
Exactly! Think of the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, one of the major languages is the Yoruba Language. It is therefore common to hear a Yoruba man mix Yoruba, British English, American English, Pidgin English and Brokin (yes that is how it is spelt.Lol) English all in the same sentence. I just end up feeling amazed, and accept that they simply speak International English. Lol.
P.S: not really doing much on my blog,but my internet messed up so I couldn't post my message using Livejournal. Anyway, I'm much active on my LJ account : http://cassie821.livejournal.com
If you need to find me that is. Lol.
Wow, that's more than a few. There's a similar mixing at my work. Many guys in the shop speak some version of Spanish (the confusion starts there) and they're all supposed to know American English in order to be hired. Additionally, there is an Asian subgroup that speak different varieties of Chinese. The slang is amazing.
DeleteWow, that's more than a few. There's a similar mixing at my work. Many guys in the shop speak some version of Spanish (the confusion starts there) and they're all supposed to know American English in order to be hired. Additionally, there is an Asian subgroup that speak different varieties of Chinese. The slang is amazing.
DeleteWow, that's more than a few. There's a similar mixing at my work. Many guys in the shop speak some version of Spanish (the confusion starts there) and they're all supposed to know American English in order to be hired. Additionally, there is an Asian subgroup that speak different varieties of Chinese. The slang is amazing.
DeleteI know. I understand what you mean by it being amazing when the Asians speak a variety of Chinese. They Yorubas are the same. There is Ibadan Yoruba which sounds different from Egba Yoruba which is also different from Ekiti Yoruba, also different from Ijesha Yoruba which is not the same as the Yoruba for Eko. And that is just a little of the different types of Yoruba. Lol.
DeleteThey all have different intonations and slangs associated with them, and they all mix the different types of English into their sentences. Sometimes I am amazed and other times, it takes a while to decipher what they are saying exactly. Lol.
Never a dull moment, when langugaes-especially the English Language-is involved :D.
English doesn't borrow from other languages, it follows them down dark allys to mug them and rummage through their pockets for loose grammar.
DeleteI completely understand the need to decipher. The shop manager is Itallian. Spanish and Chinese words coming at you in an Itallian accent are hard to follow.
Lol. I'll bet. LMAO. Now I have a video of Al Pacino speaking Spanish and Chinese with hia accent and it's hilarious. ROFL.
ReplyDeleteLol. I'll bet. LMAO. Now I have a video of Al Pacino speaking Spanish and Chinese with his accent in my head, and it's hilarious. ROFL.
ReplyDelete