Informal Occasions
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 […]
How to Read Turkish
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 […]
Frames of Reference
Dear Art Nerd, My dad found some cable channel full of old cartoons the other day, and as we watched a bunch of Looney Tunes together, I was struck by how fluid the animation was — walking, talking, stretching into bizarre contortions. I grew up on Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh, that kind of thing, and they are […]
Istanbul Was Constantinople
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 […]
Holy Softball-Sized Zits, Batman! It’s MRSA!
Dear Biology Nerd, I keep hearing about community MRSA – what is it, and should I be worried? Yours, Ezra Lionels *** Dear Ezra, Don’t worry, it’s really not that exciting. One in three people has staph on their skin — it’s a bacteria that’s everywhere. Usually, the only time people get sick from it […]
Happy Mediums
Dear Art Nerd, What’s the difference between oil and acrylic and watercolor paint? -Michelle N. *** Well, the names of the paints. There. That’s what’s different. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME YOU’RE A LOVELY AUDIENCE THANK YOU, THANK YOU- Okay, so there’s a bit more to that answer than just the names. Watercolor is cheaper […]
Talk Like A Monster
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 […]
The Hands-On Approach
Hey Art Nerd, Why is it so hard to draw hands? -Jane H. *** Oh, Christ, hands. Hands are hard to draw because in order to draw them, an artist must sacrifice their firstborn to the ancient God of Art: Pretenciozan. And then, only then, will they achieve true power. Okay, so hands are absolutely […]
Fifty Shades of White
Dear Language Nerd, My teacher once told me that the Eskimo have forty-five words for snow, but recently I read that they have over two hundred – a pretty big difference! How many is it really? Sincerely, [name redacted by Language Nerd] *** Dear [redacted], NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I suppose it was bound to […]
Fancy-Shmancy Reduplication
Dear Language Nerd, Duplication I get, sure, but what’s up with reduplication? -Carl S., Jr. *** Dear Carl, Reduplication is when sounds or words are said twice in a row. In English, we have a few set words that use reduplication — frou-frou, razzle-dazzle, bye-bye — that sort of thing. We also have the more […]