Dear Language Nerd, These questions people are asking you have been easy. Chump change. Child’s play. I’m not impressed. Here’s a REAL question for you, and answer it if you can! Why do we say “uh-huh” for yes and “uh-uh” for no? Edgar F. *** “I can answer that question in eight sentences!” “I can […]
Dear Language Nerd, What do you think are the best and worst examples of language in fantasy novels? – Robert S. *** Dear Robert, Best is easy – for my money, there’s no one like Tolkien. Tolkien was a linguist first, author second, though damn good at both. He began by inventing his own language […]
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 […]
Hello, Language Nerd, A lot of new media speech, like netspeak or leetspeak is derided as a corruption of standard English. Is there really anything negative socially about the rise of those kinds of speech? -Daniel S. *** Hello Daniel! It’s interesting that you chose netspeak and leetspeak as your examples, because they are actually […]