Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with language

Examples of background clues from vocabulary and/or usage?

logonym — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:44:27 -0800

When someone says head or latrine for bathroom its likely that they were in the military or around the military. A less common example,when someone says "avoid the near occasion" about something its likely that they are from a Roman Catholic background, I'd even say its use indicates a likelihood that they are or were a priest, seminarian, religious, in a kind of serious catholic family or school etc. Reckon is a common word and its being used once doesn't mean anything but when its use is pretty frequent it might be indicative of someone's having lived in the south east United States. When people say pop instead of soda or coke they likely are from somewhere roughly between Chicago and Denver, Oklahoma and North Dakota. Things like this interest me and I'm sure I know only a infinitesimal fraction of a percent of them. Do you have any like observations to share? Pointing me towards web sites, threads, databases, or journals that cover this sort of thing would be way cool.

I'm also interested in people's observations. Words or word constructs that cause recognition that someone is from your home region or elsewhere, that they are in your professional field, academic discipline, etc. Any phrases that are especially used in particular regions, occupations, social segments, sub-cultures, etc.

None of these things are going to be a hundred percent accurate, they just indicate a likelihood. An example of an expression that is less than 50% indicative is "X is the gold standard of. . . " People with a medical background say this much more often than other people. Many medical people don't say it much and some non-medical people do say it but its use does indicate a likelihood.

I can picture someone not liking this topic because it might seem like it is about creating a sloppy taxonomy that's about prejudice. To me its a bit about playing amateur sociologist/anthropologist and a little bit about trying on occasion to make a Sherlock Holmes prognostication about where people have been or what their occupation is. Mostly its one more dimension in listening to people that can keep things interesting, especially places like on a bus,waiting in a lobby, or the like. My favorite cab driver friend keeps his night interesting by trying to guess all his fares occupations before he has to drop them off.Its a passtime, one I'm sure i could be better at.

Have I been acting rude for most of my life?

Shouraku — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 02:15:34 -0800

Is it rude to refer to someone in the third person (he/she) while they are present? I recently watched a video of comedian Russell Brand on the MSNBC show Morning Joe. At time codes: 5:12 and 6:08 he gets very upset with the hosts for referring to him using a third person pronoun.

Honestly, I had no idea that this was somehow rude. I'm sure that I've done this in social settings, and currently feel pretty bad about it. I read the comments section of the Gawker site, and it seems that the level of appropriateness of third person pronouns is debatable. Really, the whole discussion left me a bit confused, and I could use some perspective.

Here is a link to the Gawker site: Russell Brand Destroys MSNBC Talk Show Host for Treating Him Like Shit
Here is a link to the video on YouTube in case the Gawker video is flaky, as it was for me: YouTube version

Questions:
1) Is it a social faux pas to refer to someone using a third person pronoun when they are present?
2) If so, for what reason? It was suggested that it's objectifying and exclusionary, is that true?

Note: The hosts were actually pretty rude in a number of other ways. They made comments about his accent and clothing, as well as started off the interview by introducing him as someone whose work they had never seen before. I'm not asking about those comments as they were obviously very inappropriate.

What is this song?

brownbat — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:34:28 -0800

I'm trying to source this haunting voice. Is this arabic? A sung prayer? Stumbled on this by accident, no idea what it is. Thanks for any tips...

Small Erlang: An answer looking for a problem

ignignokt — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:11:54 -0800

What are some practical, small (meaning not necessarily enterprise scale) uses for Erlang? I've been reading about Erlang lately, and I find it very interesting, and it makes me think fondly of coding in Scheme and Lisp in college (perhaps with a bit of rose-tinting). The immutable variables aspect is especially weird and fascinating.

I want to get into this, but I have to be really careful with my time these days. I don't want to invest time in something I'm not going to use.

I work mostly with JavaScript, Node.js, Meteor, the browser, and Objective-C on web and iOS apps. They are games and "personal productivity"-type apps. I figure I can handle any scaling issues these kinds of things may encounter with the tools that Node provides.

Erlang seems to be mostly applied to massive scaling problems on the server side. While that's cool, I'd like to know how it works in smaller personal projects, generally. Answers like, "no, it's just useful for massive high-traffic and quant problems" are fine.

"When my ship comes in"?

Mechitar — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:08:57 -0800

The 1983 Billy Joel song "Uptown Girl" has the line "But maybe someday when my ship comes in / she'll understand what kind of guy I am / and then I'll win." It just occurred to me that, though I'm in my thirties, I don't think I've ever heard the expression "when my ship comes in" used by anyone but Billy Joel. Has this ever been a commonly-used expression? If so, does anyone still use it? And what the heck does it even mean? I mean, I can tell what it figuratively means, from the context. But what is the connection between a ship arriving and someone becoming successful?

What word or phrase sums up this pattern of human interaction?

bac — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:28:37 -0800

I'm looking for a word or phrase to sum up the following sentiment: "You ought to do some task X for me, or to treat me in some manner Y, but you do not, although I believe you know you should. More important to me than your doing X or Y, though, is that you want to do X or Y. If I have to ask you, especially repeatedly, to do X or Y, I conclude that you do not want to, and even if you eventually do X or Y, it's cheapened because of my perception that you are doing it reluctantly."

I observe this pattern in myself and others frequently enough to suspect it's got a name. Failing that, I'm looking for descriptions of the pattern in literature or nonfiction.

I do know about Ask culture vs. Guess culture, and that's somewhere in the neighborhood of what I'm looking for, but not quite there.

Americans do not have a British accent. Why?

usermac — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:29:23 -0800

I was at lunch today and asked my friends "Why don't American's have British accents in their speach?" They were dumbfounded and began to wonder themselves so I turn to Ask MetaFilter to find the answer.

Who's the (Grand)Daddy?

billiebee — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 06:12:24 -0800

Asking for a non MeFi friend. His daughter is a single parent to a 3 year old girl, his only grandchild. There is no contact with the father for Reasons. Friend is separated himself. His granddaughter adores him and he loves to babysit her when he can (they live in another city about an hour away), about once a week for a day. He also Skypes her during the week. For the last while she has been referring to him as “Daddy”. Apparently she was being teased at nursery for not having a Dad (at 3!) and she told them that she did have a Daddy, and he was called Granddad. Her Mum thought this was hilarious. Today I was visiting with both of them and she wrote his name (just scribbles) and said “That’s your name.” He said “Granddad?” and she said, “No. Daddy”. Does this matter in any way? Her mother is quite highly-strung, they moved to this new city only a few months ago, and just a few months before that my friend and his wife separated. Granddaughter and her mother had been living with them and were there for a short while after he moved out. He’s a bit concerned that with all the changes in her little life she’s confused about who’s who. But does it do any harm for her to call him Daddy? Should he keep correcting her? Is this something that will just go away as she gets older and has better language skills, or is it a sign of some deeper kind of confusion that should be addressed? Thanks.

Prep for Jure Sanguinis -> Help me find a great Italian textbook

NYC-BB — Mon, 27 May 2013 22:38:30 -0800

Preparing for Jure Sanguinis and trying to brush up on my non-existent Italian. I haven't had much luck with various websites and apps (FSI is an exception), can't afford Rosetta Stone, and can't leave work long enough for an immersion course. I've found that I do well with language textbooks in that I get a better sense of the grammar and they allow for rote memorization of words and phrases. With that in mind, can anyone recommend a good textbook (or system, or correspondence course) for learning Italian at home? Thank you.

What is this weak form of pun called?

salishsea — Mon, 27 May 2013 11:00:03 -0800

You know the kind: "DemoCRAPS" and "RepubliCONS" I find these constructions incredibly tiresome and would like to address them with a technical term. What are these forms of speech called?

How can I talk with my friend about his dating life given our history?

Anonymous — Sun, 26 May 2013 21:03:31 -0800

I have a very good friend who I spend time with on a regular basis. In recent history (and maybe probably for the foreseeable future) he has been depressed about his dating life, so naturally, it is a subject that comes up and I discuss it with him. However, given our past history together, it's been a really hard subject for me to discuss with him and I would like some help navigating this from the hivemind. Me: Very very very happily married several years now to my ideal partner.

Him: Deals with depression. Single for quite some time now, very attractive handsome great guy with a lot going for him, but does have some personality quirks that make it both hard for him to find a match and make it hard for him to find and start relationships.

Our history: We dated twice. The first time I was very young and dumped him because I was young and flighty. Kept in touch. Saw eachother again years later and started dating again at my request. Were boyfriend and girlfriend for some time, but then I broke up with him again, mainly because I realized we were not compatible due to some differences in certain values and personality. I was also starting to fall for a different guy, who I am now married to. We did no contact for awhile, and then eventually started hanging out again as friends.

We hang out on regular basis as friends, he's friendly with my husband, and he's probably the second best friend I have. Like any friend, we talk about problems he is facing and stuff like that.

The problem I have is that since he is feeling depressed about his dating life and we talk about that, we talk about how he is feeling like he won't find somebody or his lack of confidence in what he has to offer. I tell him my honest feelings that he is a great guy with a lot to offer. But whenever I do that, there is this voice in my mind nagging at me saying that it sounds ridiculous coming from me, given that I dumped him twice! I really mean and believe everything I say, but it feels like our history is this giant elephant in the room making all my words and reassurances sound hollow. I've had the same conversation with other friends who were dealing with similar issues, and given that we had no history together I was able to reassure them without it seeming weird.

Given that he may be dealing with this issue for the foreseeable future, and I want to be there for him and talk about this with him as much as he needs to, I need some tips on how to talk with him when this subject comes up. What language, phrases, and words, and how do you (honestly!!!!) convey and reassure to someone you have ended a relationship twice that they are wonderful, datable, and desirable? How can I navigate these conversations gracefully?

Is my writing style overly complicated?

Unhyper — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:28:56 -0800

I learned English as a second language (native is Finnish). The emphasis in school was on vocabulary and very basic grammar; we did not to my recollection deal with stuff like passive voice etc. So in terms of writing in English, much of my "voice" has developed simply from what sounds right inside my head. However, I've been told that the way I write is overly complicated. Is this so? I never try to complicate my writing with unnecessary stylistic choices or fancy words. I believe that anything that makes it more difficult for my point to get across is detrimental to the writing. Yet, at the same time, I don't think one's writing should simply cater to the lowest intellectual denominator.

Anyway, occasionally when I let others read what I write, they suggest I simplify things. It's not necessarily bad advice, but it has made me a bit concerned over the quality of my command of the language. The trouble is, my natural way of constructing sentences is, I suppose, unnecessarily verbose - yet it is most natural for me. For instance, I was responding to something on Facebook and quipped the following: "By default, I just assume that any insect the nutritional habits of which I am not aware of, is one that sucks blood."

A friend of mine pointed out that I could have just said something like, "If I don't know what an insect eats, I assume it sucks blood." Okay, fair enough.

My question is, would that be better writing, grammatically? Phonetically? Is it simply easier to understand? A sentence like that just sounds so... I don't know. Inflexible? Rough?

Recommendations for non-English language hip-hop

roofus — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:20:57 -0800

International MeFites can you recommend great hip-hop either entirely in non-English language, or featuring mainly non-US English dialects? previously

What single word describes these things that my employer sells?

Glendale — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:48:04 -0800

I need one word, in singular form, that is synonymous with product, service, and experience (experience as in, taking a tour, sitting for a lecture, watching a live band..) The company I am working for provides many products, services and experiences for their customers, and I need a single, general noun that describes all of these. Help!

What would you really like to know about language and language learning?

sdis — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:14:32 -0800

I run a blog about language learning and have ~9 months until a book of mine gets published. During that time, I'd like to grow my audience as much as possible, which basically means writing as many interesting articles as possible. While I have a list of blog-post ideas, I'm currently living in book-related tunnel vision, and could use some outside input. If you knew someone who knew a lot about foreign languages and language learning, and was willing to do some research and write an article about anything you wanted, what would you want him/her to write about? What burning, unanswered questions do you have about languages, language learning, memory or any other related topics?

"Hosed" etymology - When did this phrase come into use?

juniperesque — Fri, 17 May 2013 09:26:17 -0800

At what point did the phrase "I'm/you're/we're hosed" come into play in the US vernacular? Earliest record? From pop culture somewhere? Are there regions of the US that did not ever use this turn of phrase?

List of simple word roots

Monkey0nCrack — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:44:35 -0800

I am looking for a text file of a list of words (roughly the 5000-10000 most common English words) and their root word and root word language. My Google Fu only turns up single words or pages that I can type in a word to get to another page to get the etymology. Wikipedia has some stuff, but it is sorted by language root, which is not what I am looking for. I would like to have a long list of words in a text file so that I can manipulate it programatically. Comma separated or whatever, any format would be great. Here is one use case: Yoke - [list of words that have yoke in the etymological history] (Many, many many English words come from the root work for Yoke.) All answers appreciated!

How can I relearn Spanish?

aka_anon — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:46 -0800

I studied Spanish in high school and college, and I even spent a semester abroad in Spain. At that point, I was very proficient at reading, writing, and speaking it. Sadly, in the 8 years since graduation, I feel as though I have forgotten everything. I am looking to get into a field where knowing Spanish would be very helpful, and I am trying to figure out the best way to both relearn what I knew (and possible go beyond that). Obviously for speaking, I will need to get out there and practice, but before that, should I just pick up my old textbooks and get going? Or, is there a better way?

Who should I send early copies of my book to?

sdis — Sat, 04 May 2013 03:17:14 -0800

I'm writing a book about language learning and the science of memory for a major publisher. We're a couple months away from sending galley copies around to various people for blurbs and reviews, and they've asked me for input as to who might be interested. So! Who should read this thing? Name some people who, if you saw their name on the back of a science-y book on language learning and memory, you'd buy it.

Is Australia just the West Island?

superfish — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:20:01 -0800

Quick question for folks who've lived in both Australia and NZ: what cultural and language differences did you notice?

How to pronounce an equation in English.

misozaki — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:22:40 -0800

Please help me pronounce this formula related to projectile motion as it would be spoken out loud: L = v0^2 sin2θ / g Please don't laugh at me for wasting a question on this.

Examples of beautiful writing

switcheroo — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:02:08 -0800

I aspire to write beautifully -- what is some great writing that uses colorful, creative language and style? I’m a college kid, and I find that my writing is not very pleasing. I write...functionally, but not beautifully. My writing style is bland, lacking character, overly straightforward and structurally simple, and my vocabulary is terribly boring. While this is fine for school papers, I crave the satisfaction of being able to write well -- being able to write things that I find beautiful and want to read again and share with others.

I recently read a short non-fiction work by E. B. White (linked to on Mefi recently). The writing is fantastic, and the way the ideas are expressed is so imaginative and colorful -- completely new to me! Another work I've come across that had the same feeling (even in translation!) was Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg. I aspire to write like this, and want to read more works written with such refreshing and captivating use of language!

Help me expand my linguistic horizons -- What else can I read to get an idea of colorful, creative, enchanting writing?

How to find a job using Chinese language skills?

catrae — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:45:29 -0800

Hey Mefis! I am asking this question on behalf of my brother-in-law who recently got laid off. Does anyone here have advice to give to a guy with a degree in Chinese and minor in business who would like to work in manufacturing/ sourcing for a US company either in the US or China? My brother-in-law lives in Missouri (20 minutes from Kansas City) with my sister their two young children. He did not get a job doing what he had dreamed of after graduating, but ended up living close to much of his and our families and settled on a job that was good enough...but had no relation to his interests or skill set. They bought a house and settled down in a small town. My brother-in-law is an avid outdoorsman, and was able to hunt and spend time in nature. So quality of life was great until he got laid off. There are not many jobs nearby and he has been frantically applying throughout the region and beyond. They are willing to relocate for the right job.

They are in a scary situation, but in many ways they want to take this opportunity to get the kind of job he has always wanted. I asked what his dream job was and he said his "absolute dream job" would be working for an outdoors/hunting company doing sourcing in China. He is interested in manufacturing and wants to put his language skills to good use. I am sure for the right job they would even move to China.

So my questions are- does anyone have advice or experience on how to find such a job? Any tips on how to approach companies with the desire to work in a field without having years of experience under your belt? Anyone have experience working in China in manufacturing/ sourcing or representing US companies in China? And lastly, if he could not get his dream job any ideas on how he can search for any kind of job that could use his skills? I am sure he would relocate anywhere in the US to get employed. I feel so bad that I can't give much advice, and thought maybe someone here would have an idea.

How do you say "statistically significant" in your native language?

escabeche — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:19:31 -0800

In English, scientists customarily use the word "significant" or "statistically significant" to refer to an effect that is distinguished from zero at a p < .05 confidence level. On the other hand, the word "significant" in non-technical English carries a connotation of being meaningful, important, or substantial; this creates confusion when researchers write about "a significant effect," since the effect might be significant in the statistical sense while being so small as to be insignificant in the common-English sense. In your native language, what word is used for "signficance" in the statistical context? Is the same word used outside the technical context, and if so, is it a word whose common meaning is something more like "detectable," more like "important," or something else entirely? In particular, does the confusion that arises in English also take place in your language?

한글 filter - help me stress "NO MEAT" in Korean.

mccn — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:06:33 -0800

I speak a very small level of Korean - enough to engage in commercial transactions (especially in restaurants) but not political theorizing. When we go to Korean restaurants, I try to use my 한글 so that I'm as clear as possible. My husband and I don't eat meat. We do eat fish, but not shellfish - but no chicken, pork, beef or otherwise. (Insert quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding here.) Husband likes to order 돌솥 비빔밥 in Korean restaurants (as do I!) but the past few times we've done so, we end up with a dish containing ground beef, despite my protestations. Here is what I say: 그는 고기를 먹지 않는다. I thought that would do it - AFAIK, it means, "he don't eat no meat." Tell me what I'm saying wrong and what I should say to avoid this issue!