Messages: 67,056 - Threads: 3,333
posted
15-Dec-2009 03:04
by:
nutraxfornerves »
last reply
16-Dec-2009 02:51
by:
zashibis »
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167
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I subscribe to a email discussion list on Jane Austen. The tone tend to be rather scholarly and many of the posters are extremely well read. I've rather gotten out of the habit of reading it, but today I decided to read some of the more recent posts, and I was certainly rewarded. The writer is discussing Austen's Unbecoming Conjunctions a book on sexual humor in Austen. (I gotta read that, but I'm not about to pay $82 for it; I just ordered i via interlibrary loan). I've added the relevant passage from Pride and Prejudice below.
posted
14-Dec-2009 21:47
by:
CRISSY »
last reply
15-Dec-2009 23:47
by:
stormboy »
9
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120
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Can someone tell me how to write this digit: 111.100 in english letters?
Is "onehundredthousandelevenonehundred" correct?
Thanks! :-)
posted
14-Dec-2009 06:41
by:
toot »
last reply
16-Dec-2009 03:22
by:
iviehoff »
18
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224
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What DO they call the British Isles - meaning, of course, the islands of Britain and Ireland and so on together, -
in places like Ireland.
I have just finished reading il Gattopardo/The Leopard (in English).
As you may know, this novel revolves around the fortunes of an aristocratic Sicilian family in the days of Italian reunification.
There are a few references where the nobles speak with commoners and comment on their dialect. The protagonist also seems to speak French and English. Which begs the question: what would an aristocratic Sicilian family have spoken back in those days? Standard Italian is based on the Tuscan dialect and Tuscany was a completely different country back then (Sicily being part of the Bourbon-run Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, comprising the island and the southern part of the pensinsula).
Would the Sicilian nobility have spoken Tuscan? Or Sicilian-perhaps a more educated version of the Sicilian spoken by the peasants, but still distinct from Tuscan Italian? Or even French? (like the Rus...
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posted
13-Dec-2009 04:24
by:
kalpea_tuli »
last reply
14-Dec-2009 17:47
by:
chriskean1 »
25
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289
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i wrote the following sentence and i think it is awkward (i put the awkward part into bold). could you help me rewrite it?
"There are other, similarly interesting sects in nearby Middle Eastern countries, such as the Shabak in Northern Iraq, or for example, the Ahl-e Haqq of Iran, whose prayer is a going into trance by what looks like head-banging. "
posted
12-Dec-2009 06:01
by:
Kerouac2 »
last reply
16-Dec-2009 01:27
by:
889 »
33
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376
views
On another forum, one of the younger members recently talked about how she was having trouble understanding the expression "you sound like a broken record." She understood the context, but couldn't quite get a grip on it. Her parents still play vinyl records from time to time, so she was aware of the context. But, for example, since you can't play a truly 'broken' record, she was thinking about 'scratched' records, but scratching in her world is a nice thing that inventive DJ's do in hip hop mixes.
So can you think of other expressions that younger generations will have trouble understanding?
posted
12-Dec-2009 03:38
by:
shilgia »
last reply
14-Dec-2009 06:02
by:
tonya001 »
17
replies
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210
views
Coherent = coh - hih - r@nt
Inherent = in - hih - r@nt or in-heh-r@nt? (I think I've heard both. M-W.com gives only the former. Is the latter wrong?)
Same question for coherently and inherently. (I think I hear in-heh-r@nt-lee more frequently than in-hih-r@nt-lee, but I'm sure I've heard both. If in-hih-r@nt is more common than in-heh-r@nt, then why does this one seem to be the other way around? Is it a sampling error?)
(For Speaking in Tongues newbies, @ is a schwa sound.)
Queensland in Australia has just celebrated 150 years since becoming a separate State. The local newspaper reproduced the newspaper of the day (1859), and it made fascinating reading. The formal English is so different from the mangled grammar and slang of today. It was beautiful to read.
One phrase in particular caught my eye .......
"We have been taunted and twitted about our juvenescence ....."
Wouldn't "taunted and twitted" both mean teased? Is there such a word as juvenescence?
Queen Victoria chose the name Queensland, in preference to the other submission, Cooksland, suggested to honour Captain Cook. The first Governor was Sir George Bowen whose wife was Lady Diamantina, who later had a town and a river named after her.
posted
10-Dec-2009 10:58
by:
shilgia »
last reply
12-Dec-2009 16:44
by:
plumsole »
15
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280
views
1. Professional -- what kinds of professions count as "professional"?
"Professional staff" is often used to distinguish those who do the work that a business sells from support staff (secretaries, human resources, etc.). But it seems that plumbers etc. are also excluded from the term "professional," even though they clearly have a profession and may (or may not) be professional in the execution of their job. So what kinds of professions fall within the boundaries of the term "professional" -- where is the line? Are, e.g., teachers professionals? People who work in advertising? Architects?
2. Curvy -- has this word now definitively taken on the meaning "fat," or is it still ambiguous?
posted
10-Dec-2009 07:54
by:
VinnyD »
last reply
12-Dec-2009 11:05
by:
n_rb »
20
replies
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339
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When young Lieutenant George Henry Preble, USN, sailed with Commodore Perry on the expedition that forcibly opened up Japan in 1853, it had to be determined whether he or a comrade would be among the few allowed to set foot on dry land with Perry. Preble wrote to his wife back in New England:
posted
10-Dec-2009 04:42
by:
CascadeBob »
last reply
15-Dec-2009 02:58
by:
chimpina »
16
replies
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343
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From a thread started elsewhere:
What are the origins of these commonly used American expressions (I have my ideas which I'll post, but check them out):
The term "buck" used to mean a dollar: My information is that this term originated in colonial America when printed currency was not in use and some comonly used barter goods took on generally known values (e.g. whiskey, tobacco and buckskins to name a few). As time went by, the term "buck" endured and became attached to the dollar once printed currency became generally circulated. Use of the term seems to be restricted to the continental United States.
The term "OK" or "Okay" to indicate approval: The most proffered source of this term suggests that OK was an acronym referrring to Old Kinderhook, a nickname for presidential candidate Martin Van Buren in 1839 - 1840. The term stuck and is now heard in countries all aroun...
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posted
09-Dec-2009 09:01
by:
NorthAmerican »
last reply
09-Dec-2009 23:53
by:
stormboy »
5
replies
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174
views
Although I can read Russian fairly well, I can't understand the language spoken at normal speed.
There is a multipart video on YouTube about the history of the monastery at Pochayev, in Ukraine, most of the narrative for which is in Russian. I can't understand more than a few words here and there.
What I would particularly like to know is, What is going on during the segment about Venerable Job (Преподобный Иов) that begins at about 4 minutes into the third part? Why are the women placing flowers on the floor? What are the group of clerics in green vestments doing? A little later, it seems that they might be carrying something through the streets in procession.
If you can take a few minutes to look at that video and just give me a synopsis of what's going on, I'd be very grateful.
почаев 3 часть
posted
08-Dec-2009 09:24
by:
JeremyintheCzec... »
last reply
14-Dec-2009 02:19
by:
VinnyD »
30
replies
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598
views
Even more intellectual than a singing mouse that may, or may not, be saying 'paedophile' is a debate in the House of Lords on modern languages in Britain Pretty depressing reading though probably no different from other anglophone countries.
posted
08-Dec-2009 04:47
by:
JeremyintheCzec... »
last reply
11-Dec-2009 12:25
by:
sneaker_fish »
10
replies
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255
views
A toy mouse that sings has been removed from shops after complaints that it wasn't singing 'Jingle Bells', but 'paedophile'.Make your own mind up by listening here
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