Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with discourse

Swedish terms for genitalia "neutral"?

megob — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:50:34 -0800

Which are the words that refer to the genital organs in Swedish? I've been told that Swedish has a "neutral" sexual/anatomic terminology that is neither vulgar, nor childish, nor medical/technical. "They call it like we call a nose a nose, and a leg a leg". What are these terms, how do they sound, what do they connotate, how do they feel to the ear, to which sociolect do they belong? In which way and degree are they "neutral", and are they at all?
I am not thinking about word like "penis" and the like, as they belong to the technical/medical kind. I am not interested in Swedish sexual slang either, or in any personal habit of denominating these body parts. I just wonder if it's true that there is an established "unbiased" terminology from a linguistic point of view the Swedes can happily make use of. (Similar question was asked here for English, but no appropriate answer found.)
No competent Swedish speaker at hand, so can you help? And: any online resources on the subject?

What are the five impressive words?

surenoproblem — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:12:17 -0800

What are the five impressive words? Does anybody know the other two impressive words? My mum caught the end of a radio show, yesterday, where they mentioned five words that, when included in your active vocabulary, make a huge difference to how learned you sound. She only heard the last three... The words she heard were: seldom (with a note to avoid "never"), microcosm, and discourse.

I can't work out which radio station she would have heard it on (we're in Australia; it was around 4-6 pm, and I've checked the ABC website).

Can anyone help make Mum sound more learned?

Universality of Sing-Songing "I Know Something You Don't Know"?

heatherann — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:57:49 -0800

DiscourseAnalysisFilter: That I know something you don't know sing-song voice... how universal is that? Is it specific to North America? Do non-North American English-speaking kids know the tune for that phrase or others like "Iiiiii'm better than yoooouuuuu are" or "nyah nyah nyah nyah boo boo"? If not, is there another sing-song phrase they use for teasing? And how would one go about publishing their findings on such a question?

Unbiased political writing?

grumblebee — Wed, 03 Nov 2004 11:01:18 -0800

Now that the election is over, I'd like to ask a question about preparing for the next one. I'm still struggling with being (or not being) a political person. My problem is that I can't stand us-vs-them mentality. If a political discussion veers into "those insane democrats" or "those horrible republicans," by brain turns off. I know some will disagree, but I think there are very few complex issues that are black & white. So it's hard for me to believe that one party is right and the other is wrong. But most commentators seem to be "liberals" or "conservatives." I know I'm supposed to listen to them both and then make my own informed decision. But I'd love to find some writers (or speakers) who are deeply independent. I want to read columns by someone who regularly says, "the democrats are right about X and wrong about Y, whereas the republicans are right about A but wrong about B." And it would help if this person (people?) is a good writer, smart and knowlegeable about history. Where do you find the writers who are interested in facts -- not sides?