Dear Language Nerd, What do the names of the days mean? Ok, “Sunday” I think I can guess, but “Tuesday”? Is “Friday” related to French fries? -Katon Lannis *** Dear Katon, Last year at this time, I talked about the meanings of the names of the months, so it seems apropos to start off 2014 […]
Dear Language Nerd, Where did Santa Claus pick up the name Kris Kringle? Or, for that matter, St. Nicholas? And how did he earn the title of Father Christmas? Frankly, having so many aliases only makes his breaking into houses all the more suspicious. -Mr. Heat Miser *** Dear Mr. Hundred-And-One, Well, merry Christmas to […]
Dear Language Nerd, My nephew’s school is considering removing cursive script from the curriculum, and surprisingly many people feel very very strongly about it, on both sides. Care to weigh in? Yours, A. S. D. Curmeck *** Dear A.S.D., I’ve never had to teach cursive myself, but I sure had to learn it, and the […]
Dear Language Nerd, I know what a British biscuit is, but I gather that the American version is different. Are they a kind of scone? And why the change in meaning across the pond? Victoria *** Dear Victoria, Most of the differences between British and American vocabulary amount to mild amusements. “Tee hee, you go […]
Dear Language Nerd, What is it called when you add a special ending to a word to make a new word? Like “intuit” + “tion” = “intuition.” Thanks, Cole *** Dear Cole, Ok. First I’m going to answer the question you think you asked. Then I’m going to answer the question you really asked. Hope […]
Dear Language Nerd, You’re learning Turkish faster than me and it’s pissing me off. How can I learn it faster when my memory is so bad? From Your Roommate, Sal *** Dear Sal, No worries, roomie, here are my rad tips for vocabulary learnin’. Today, we’ll focus on vocab, not grammar or politeness or other […]
Dear Language Nerd, Sometimes when I am writing I use colloquialisms, but they can be obtuse. Sometimes they don’t feel right, but I don’t know why. What the heck is a colloquialism and why should I care? Pete S. P.S. – I find hand-drawn pictures are a very useful means to communicate language-related insight. *** Dear […]
Subtitled: The Vowels are Out to Get You Dear Language Nerd, So I’m an English speaker visiting Turkey, and I’ve picked up a few words of Turkish, but somehow they don’t seem to square with anything I see written. Is it just me, or is the Turkish alphabet way more different from ours than it […]
Dear Language Nerd, Why IS it Istanbul (not Constantinople)? -Cameron J. *** Dear Cameron, And whose business is that, really? I mean besides the Turks? Renaming places is generally slightly more complicated than people just liking a city better that way. In fact, it’s all about the power. It happens frequently when new groups replace […]
Dear Language Nerd, All right, I’m a little early, but I want enough time to put your words (of wisdom, hopefully) into practice. I’m going to be Cookie Monster for Halloween… I’m in charge of a kid party, not my idea, but I want to do it well, so how do I speak like Cookie […]