Belgian Whistles

(via She Who Seeks)

What If English Were Phonetically Consistent?

English is a weird language, in that the written version consists of letters and phonemes that we pronounce many different ways, depending on the context. It takes years for a child, hearing nothing but spoken English, to master it orally, then many more years to master reading it. But what if pronunciation rules were internally consistent? In this video, Aaron Alon gradually applies consistent pronunciation to vowels until it doesn't sound like English at all. (via Nag on the Lake)    

Can the Government Control How We Speak?

You can argue about the First Amendment and freedom of speech all day, but when it comes down to individual words and their spelling, we defer to linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky. She's not a stickler for correct usage, but she does keep an eye on how it changes over time. Today, Brozovsky explains how certain governments have tried to standardize certain words, either to protect a language or even resurrect it. 

Users of the English language, however, don't like to be told how to speak and write, which is why it has splintered into British English, American English, Australian English, etc. We have authorities, more from academia than from governments, that tell us the correct way to spell and use English words, but even they are aware of how language changes and evolves due to the way real people use it in everyday life. 

Dangerous

(via Fark)

Far Larm

At least it's labeled. (via Bits and Pieces)

Angus

(Thanks, WTM!)

The Language of Smell

Can you describe a smell without referring to the possible source of that smell, or something that smells similar? There are such words, like fragrant, stinky, or musky and a few others, but compare that to the huge number of words we can use to describe something we see without referring the the exact object. Most of the time, we just rely on shared knowledge of smell sources, such as "this smells like (bananas, lilac, crap, etc)." In English, you can be on the phone, go outside, sniff, and say "someone's cooking out," and the person you're talking to will instantly know what you are smelling because of our shared experience. Imagine trying to describe that smell without referring to the probable source. 

However, this only applies to Western languages. Some languages have a wide vocabulary to describe smells. What makes the difference is codability, or the tendency for all speakers of the language to agree on descriptive words. Dr. Erica Brozovsky explains the linguistics of smell across different languages. 

Count the Errors

(via Give Me a Sign)

Canadian English vs. American English

British immigrant Laurence Brown has spent years comparing and contrasting Britain and the US in his series Lost in the Pond. Many times he's pointed out the many differences in British English and American English. But somewhere along the way, he discovered that there is also Canadian English, which is another thing altogether. This reminds me of when some French relatives visited Montreal and were shocked to find out that Quebecois is very different from French, but still understandable if you give it a few seconds. 

Americans and Canadians are used to each other's word usage and accents, but seeing if from the perspective of one who used to be an outsider is illuminating. We've all heard about Americans traveling to Europe and telling people they are from Canada to avoid American backlash, yet we've wondered how they got away with it. The differences in language are rather subtle, and often undetectable to anyone who speaks English as a second language, or even as a first language, as Brown does. 

By the way, I've never heard any American refer to a knit cap as a beanie, but I live near the South, where they are only worn a couple of months out of the year. This video has a skippable ad from 4:58 to 6:01. 

Some Answers from a 10th Grade English Exam

Okay, this will read funny to a native English speaker, but you need to know this is from an English exam in a German school. Look carefully, and you will find sparks of genius here. Handshoes is a direct translation of handschuhe, which is German for gloves. Waterkrank probably means seasickness. Altogether it highlights the difficulty of learning a new form of grammar. They certainly know English better than I know German! Commenters pointed out they've seen worse from native English speakers. (via reddit) 

Why Judges and Linguists Can’t Stop Arguing About Words

Language is a funny thing. It changes over time, and the exact meaning of a word can drift to become more broad or more specific. That can spill over into a courtroom, when the exact wording of a law is debated. Does a more modern interpretation of those words change the intention of those who originally passed the law? And how do we determine exact meanings? By current dictionary, the generally-understood meaning at the time the law was written, or how the wording of the law is understood today? It depends on how you look at it, or even more importantly, who looks at it. Dr. Erica Brozovsky breaks down the legal battle over words. All I could think of while watching this is a quote: "It depends on what the definition of 'is' is."  

When Idioms Attack

(via Bad Menu)

Forensic Linguistics

Forensic linguistics deals with the study of language used in legal cases. Not lawyer talk, but things like figuring out who wrote something when they aren't identified. I've been delving into that type of thing just yesterday, in reading about Trota of Salerno and what she did and didn't write, and Luke, who wrote two books of the Bible. So I was surprised to see a video about the science of these investigations. 

FBI forensic linguists learned an awful lot about the Unabomber by the manifesto he released. It didn't contain any identifying information, but it was so long that his writing style was a treasure trove of clues. Most communications from unknown perpetrators are much shorter, but there are techniques that police can use to trace them back to a suspect. Half as Interesting shows us some of those techniques that have cracked cases before just from some anonymous writing.  

Grammar Rules You Don't Need to Follow Anymore

I've never felt good calling myself a language nerd, since I only speak one language. But I can't call myself an English nerd because I'm not English. And I've been making a serious effort to not be a pedant because language changes over time and you can't stop it. For example, it grinds my gears when people say "less" when they mean "fewer," but I don't correct people, and I vow right now that I'm going to let that go forever. I'm fine with ending a sentence with a preposition, because the lengths you must go to in order to avoid it are never worth the effort. If someone corrects you on that, tell them to "Shut up." Or if you're feeling generous, say, "Go on."

There are other grammar rules that are just not worth policing because popular usage is changing. I could not get my kids to say "different from" instead of "different than," and I would correct "on accident" to be "by accident." But why, then, is that different from saying "on purpose"? Yeah, some grammar rules should just go away- especially ones about the confusing use of English prepositions. 

Learning a second language makes you understand how hard grammar really is. Princess speaks three languages and the grammar rules of Spanish or French can slip into her English in funny ways. Dr. Dolittle is learning Nepali ahead of her second wedding this fall, and she tells me the word order is completely different from English. We should all be more forgiving about English grammar, especially from someone who knows more than one language. If you can make yourself understood by the person you are addressing, that should be enough. 

"Cool" is the King of Cool

Most slang words are coined to represent an age group or some kind of community for which outsiders don't use the slang word. As soon as those words go mainstream, they are out of fashion. It happens so fast that you can date a movie by the slang words it contains, or at least identify the period it's set in. But one slang word just refuses to go away- the word "cool," used for anything good in pretty much any way. 

While the word itself goes back hundreds of years, it was first published as a slang word in 1884. That means it was being used as vocal slang for a long time before that. And it's still used today by all age groups. Besides that, it doesn't go out and in and out of fashion, but rather spreads further and becomes more common all the time. "Cool" can be mean many things besides temperature, but it's always a positive word. Linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky goes through the history of "cool" and the many ways it's been used. 

A Bun in the Oven

She's trying to tell him that she's pregnant, but he just doesn't get it. Good thing she had a backup clue in the bathroom. She would have done better to just tell him. (via Digg)

English

People used to criticize my boss for a small grammar faux pas, and I would point out that English is his fourth language. Remember the beam in your own eye. (via Bored Panda)

Too Hot

(via Give Me a Sign)

Written Language Mistakes Unique to America

Despite what you've heard, people who speak British English and those who speak American English can usually understand each other, once you get away from the most extreme accents. However, once social media became a thing, suddenly millions of people who previously communicated only in speech were suddenly typing out their thoughts for the world to see. That's when Laurence Brown, who makes a living comparing Britain and the United States, noticed some writing quirks that appear in American English, but wouldn't happen in Britain. 

He's not really picking on Americans, but pointing out that some of these mistakes arise only because of the differences in how Americans use the language, which he explains along the way. There are also writing mistakes common in British English that would never, or rarely, happen in America, and he promises to make a video about those in the future.  

Why English Sux

Jordan Watson is famous for his How To Dad series. His daughters are growing up, though, and the oldest is learning to read. There is nothing that makes you question the universe more than helping a child with homework. That's what it took for Watson to realize how weird our language and spelling conventions are. (via Tastefully Offensive)