Dear Language Nerd, I see “Latin@” all the time on tumblr (referring to people from South America/Central America/Mexico). What’s the deal with the “at” sign? -Gringo (Gring@?) *** Dear G, Grammatical gender and a healthy dose of language politics. Let’s dig in. We have a handful of nouns in English that are connected to a […]
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 have a burning question about language! Is it “flammable” or “inflammable”? Yours, John R. *** Dear John, It’s both! But one is peskier than the other. “Flammable” and “inflammable” both mean “if you touch a match to this it will go up like the Fourth of July.” The “in-“ part of […]