trying on a metaphor
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
styofa doing anything
blake kathryn
Jules of Nature
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$LAYYYTER
ellievsbear
Monterey Bay Aquarium
occasionally subtle
Cosmic Funnies
art blog(derogatory)
Andulka
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
Peter Solarz
DEAR READER
RMH
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Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
will byers stan first human second
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@languageshellyeah-blog
I hope you understand the enormity of this graph/table/pictogram as you sit there with your nonplussed expression. There is a plethora of information here ... I am literally dying from excitement.
Read: I hope you understand how evil and excessively wicked this ... is as you sit their all baffled and confused like. There is way too much information here ... I am dead. From excitement.
thebroadcaster:
10 Most Misunderstood Words in English
Imagine not being able to speak the predominant language of your native land. For many Latin Americans this is a huge problem.
djturtlep:
http://mobile.chron.com/chron/db_271449/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=mCw7iOVA&src=cat
She is one of a sizable number of Latin American immigrants who have settled in New York in recent years and speak only indigenous languages — ancient tongues that existed long before Spanish conquistadors...
You have to give it to our main man Noam Chomsky for managing to make it through this interview ... and for that first bump at the end.
Yiddish: All Up In New York's Face (and a bit of Florida's, too)
Schlep - being a New Jersey native, I am quite familiar with this word, intimate even. We use schlep as a way to describe hauling something from one place to another. We even have a mover in the Garden State called, 'Schleppers Movers'. Oh, New Jersey.
Example: I am tired of schlepping your rock collection all over the damned place.
or, You better not get wasted tonight. There is NO way I am schlepping your ass around Times Square.
misspepita:
This map shows where the majority of Yiddish speakers are located in the United States, as of the 2000 Cenus. It reminded me of a PBS documentary I watched in my Linguistic Anthropology class called “American Tongues”. In one part, they briefly showed people from NYC describing a particular word in Yiddish, and then showed people from other regions of the US (if I recall correctly, it was people from the South and then the Midwest) attempting to describe the same word. Seeing as how the documentary was from 1988, it made me wonder if nowadays, people not from the New York or the surrounding area would be able to accurately describe the same word, or if they’d still struggle with defining it.
So here is my quick question for you, tumblr! Reblog if you can describe what the word ‘schlep’ means. (naturally, this question is off limits for Yiddish speakers)
Also, jung isn't just about romantic love; Koreans often use it to describe the relationship they have with all others in the world, or specifically all Koreans. It's a strong connection; a mix of love, willingness to help in any time of need... It's really hard to explain. It's like they're family, and you'd never think of betraying or hurting them.
Update on Jung! Such insight! Thank you! I unfortunately work out of a very old Linguistics book that gives very little information. Your input is very much appreciated!
Awesome Foreign Word of the Day: Wanktok
Wanktok (Tok Pisin): a word in the Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin creole that refers to people who speak the same language as you do and have some form of claim on you. Pronounced: Wahn-tok
This word usually refers only to a people within families, villages, clans and slightly larger areas due to the generally small size of Papua New Guinea and its clans. Wanktok expresses the idea that people who share a common language are, in a way, indebted to each other, that they might as well be related by blood and are thusly expected to watch after and take care of their fellow Tok Pisin speakers. The linguistic isolation of Papua New Guineans is what allowed for such a word to come into being; imagine if every English speaker submitted some sort of claim on every other English speaker. Or if every Chinese speaker laid claim on other Chinese speakers. SO MUCH CLAIM.
But is that such a bad thing?
That would mean somebody would have given my sad, pathetic soul a ride last month when I was trudging down a hellishly hot backroad, locked out of my car, looking as tragic as possible, staring forlornly at the half consumed donut in my hand (most regrettable donut trip ever). Someone would have had to take responsibility for me. I would have delighted them with stories and cooked them a fabulous dinner, recognizing my own role to play in wanktok.
I submit that we should start practicing wanktok; the world would be a whole lot more friendly (and with less incidents of donut-runs-gone-bad) if we did.
Comically Linguistic: You just got served by a comic. How does that feel?
The Linguistic Tree of Gondor.
matthen:
An interesting diagram showing the family tree of Indo-European languages. At the bottom is Proto-Indo-European, the reconstructed common ancestor. Its word *wel (‘turn’), for example, gave rise eventually to English words including: waltz, valve, convolve, evolve, revolt, valley, helix, wallow, willow, walk and Helen. [read this book!] [image source]
Awesome Foreign Word of the Day: Jung
Jung (Korean): a feeling that is stronger than love and can only be proved when surviving a difficult argument. Prononciation: Jung
This word should come with confetti and sparklers and a parade.
Let me explain.
I feel this word portrays something so epic in the love category that at the end of the argument, when you have achieved the highest love-honor of 'jung', a banner should fall down from the ceiling, one that reads 'You Effing Did It' and as it unravels there are balloons and a man in a top hat who will fly out of nowhere and deliver to you a bouquet of sparklers and designer cupcakes. This isn't your pansy argument about who forgot to buy milk or who made who feel invalidated. This is your nuclear, fire raining from the sky brand of argument. The one where you throw your hands up and say, 'this just isn't working out' and just when it seems it might end right there and then, you come back from the brink of relationship extinction, teetering away from that horrifying cliff and into the safe arms of your 'constant.'
THAT is jung.
So, doesn't it only seem fair that some sort of mini circus would explode from your floors and closets as you veer away from the relationship self destruct button?
Why We Need to Start Figuring Out the Difference Between 'alot' and a lot"
The always hilarious blog Hyperbole and a Half offers a very important lesson on why the heck we should just get our shit together and learn the difference between 'alot' and 'a lot.'
Here's just a snippet of what you have to look forward to:"When someone types out "u" instead of "you," instead of getting mad, I imagine them having only one finger on each hand and then their actions seem reasonable."
Interest Piqued? Click here to learn more about the grammar correcting 'Alot'.
Awesome Foreign Word of the Day: Mono No Aware
Mono no aware 物の哀れ (Japanese): literally meaning 'the pathos of things', mono no aware is a term used to describe the awareness of the impermanence of all things and the gentles sadness one feels at their passing. Prononciation: moh-no no ah-wah-ray
Imagine if 'mono-no-aware' and Ya'aburnee had a linguistic love child. Imagine it. It would be the most beautiful word this world has ever seen; this word would be so powerful and full of tiger blood the masses would have coronaries at the mere whisper of the word.
It's impending marriage to ya'aburnee aside, this word expresses that wistful feeling one experiences as 'all good things come to an end.' It describes that intense awareness one experiences as moment as it slips by. One example is Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's ending a film with a character saying 'ii tenki desu ne', meaning, 'fine weather, isn't it?' during the paradigm shift or climax.
Unfortunately, my own life is nowhere near as epic as a Yasujiro Ozu film or a Haruki Murakami novel. I have to settle for moments that look something like this:
You: It's too bad your flying privileges were revoked after that whole 'free-pretzels-and-headphones' rebellion you tried to start ... Me: *looks wistfully up at the sky, giving a heavy sigh* I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar. The End.
*Corrected pronunciation - i might have been crazy when I wrote this.
Kiss Kiss Bacio Bacio ...
Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.
Edgar Allan Poe
Learn Hindi on Tumblr!
There are many great blogs out there for language learning but Learning Hindi! really takes the proverbial cake. I highly recommend it if you are looking to learn Hindi and you will not only learn some fantastic vocabulary, but you are also receiving expertly delivered grammar lessons. Feeling a bit rusty on grammar in general? No worries. This blog will break it down for you, ensuring you walk into learning Hindi feeling confident. That's more explaining and help than some of my college courses ever gave me ...
Click here to check out Learning Hindi!
Comically Linguistic: Sexual maturity has NOT been a walk in the park for ME ladies ... ya dig?
How Does Language Shape How We Think?
How Does Language Shape How We Think? by Lera Boroditsky
"The normal greeting in Kuuk Thaayorre is "Where are you going?" and the answer should be something like " Southsoutheast, in the middle distance." If you don't know which way you're facing, you can't even get past "Hello."
An amazingly well written and insightful article that explores the questions, How do we know that it is language itself that creates these differences in thought and not some other aspect of their respective cultures? Well worth a read.
