Language Nerd, Spanish and French were once both dialects of Latin, but now they’re different languages… when did they switch from 2 dialects of one language to 2 languages? *** Dear mysterious anonymous person, When Spanish and French people stopped being able to understand each other. Since I’ve been calling myself the Language Nerd for […]
Hey Language Nerd, I’m about to head to Turkey to visit my goofy sister and was hoping for a bit of help. Can you craft a list of useful phases (how to be polite, purchase things, and whatnot)? I don’t want to just hop on over there and be a total goober to the locals. […]
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 […]
Dear Language Nerd, So I’m in the kitchen, planning to cut up some beef, holding my kitchen scissors at the ready, and I haven’t done it yet because I’m standing and thinking, why do I call these “a pair of scissors” when there’s only one of them? Please respond before my meat goes bad! Tamar […]
Egregious apostrophe sighting: “This was over 40 years ago and it still go’s on.” *** Saw this one on the street: “DVD’s AND VIDEO’s.” Arrrrgh!!!! *** “The issue is only confused by it’s advocates.” If its advocates use “it’s” correctly, I’m joining their side! *** You guys. YOU GUYS. This is the exact opposite of […]
Dear Language Nerd, What exactly is onomatopoeia? From Anna *** Dear Anna, First off, onomatopoeia is one the very few words in English spelled with four vowels in a row (there are none with all five, sadly). Second and more usefully, onomatopoeia is words that represent real-world sounds. Does this blow your mind? Give it […]
Dear Language Nerd,Why do we say stretched, fetched, and retched, but wretchèd? -Delphine Sultzer *** Dear Delphine, Because the first three are verbs and the last one’s an adjective. English has a lot of rules (shocking, I know) about pronunciation. We lucky native speakers use them all the time without ever realizing, and the regular-past-tense-ending […]
So, League of Nerds, since you alluded to it in your last fabulous post, why is the “th” sound so weird? -Eleanor D. *** Dear Eleanor, The “th” sound is the ruination of English-second-language students the world over, and its weirdness is so all-encompassing that we’re going to have to split it up. Let’s go […]
Dear Language Nerd, I’m going to visit my friend in Korea for two weeks. I’ve never been to Korea before and I don’t speak any Korean. Can you give me the basic Korean I’ll need to get around? From Maria D. *** Hello Maria, here are some useful Korean phrases for you! An-nyang ha-say-yo. Hello! […]