Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing and language

Help me find a site that people list their favorite words on

debu — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:14:47 -0800

I bookmarked a site years ago that was all about people listing their favorite words - sort of like "delicious" but for word nerds. Does anyone have a clue what this is? thanks

Tell me about this sentence construction

peep — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:23:06 -0800

Tell me everything you know about this sentence construction: "Are you finished your lunch?" In the past few months, I've heard the following three sentences while watching cartoons with my son.

1. "Are you finished your lunch?"
2. "I'm all finished my book."
3. "I'm finished the decorations."

At first I thought the sentence must have been misdubbed or something - like it was written "Have you finished . . ." and there was an error in recording the voice and they just left it. But three times (and on different shows)?

I'm in the US. Is this a regional thing, or common in English speaking countries other than the US? I'm 33, and I had never before heard this construction, nor seen it in print or noticed it in anything I've read on the web.

Have you heard this? Do you use it? Where are you from and what languages do you speak? Any details appreciated.

Anyone know an online tool that randomly scrambles the order of sentences in a body of text?

holdenjordahl — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:04:33 -0800

Does anyone know of a free, online program that, for lack of a better phrase, I'll call a random sentence scrambler? I see there are a lot of anagram makers but I want one for about 500 word bodies of text. Theoretically I could paste in the text and it would spit it out with all the words intact, the sentence structure preserved, just arranged into a new sequence. Thanks.

Sources for short prose for public editing practice?

colinmarshall — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:02:32 -0800

Where might I find real-life examples of 300-700-word pieces of prose that are neither perfect nor unsalvageable — "problematic," let's say — on which I can practice the craft of editing? I'm starting a project on my blog: a series of posts wherein I dissect and try my damndest to improve a variety of shortish texts in order to publicly shed an additional shaft of light on the craft we call writing. It doesn't matter where they came from, how old they are, or what their subject matter might happen do be. In fact, the more diverse, the better: reviews, stories, blog posts, observations, dialogues, tracts, anything. The trick is to find material that hasn't already attained the status of "good" but isn't so broken that I'll be forced into an exercise of turd-polishing; I want a sound core of ideas, but a noticeably less-than-perfect execution. Any ideas?

Automated extraction of the gist of an article?

zaebiz — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:49:57 -0800

I often have a whole bunch of 500-3000 word articles to read - all reasonably plain English with headings and sub-headings (and occasionally images). Is there any software out there which will take an article (or articles) and write a reasonable one or two paragraph summary of the article, or produce a list of key points?

New theories of Mimesis (in digital/hypertextual/hypermedial cultures)

0bvious — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:09:48 -0800

I am looking for writings on mimesis in regards new, digital, hypertext and hypermedial technologies and cultures. I am following the redefinition of mimesis. From Plato's disregard of oral culture, through his mimesis of Socrates' dialogues in writing. Following Plato, Aristotle's theory was always a written mimesis, thus the order and processes of representation and mimicry were fundamentally written.

In essence, I am interested in how the artefacts of oral culture differed in their mimesis to written culture, and thus, how our modern move from a written to a digital/hypertextual culture will similarly impact on mimetic embodiment.

(I am also concerned with the terms 'digital' and 'hypertextual' - perhaps they are too narrow. Oral, written cultures and then XXXXX? The terms 'Cybertext' and 'Ergodic' do not seem to cover the ground wide enough.)

I have been reading Marshall McLuhan, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man and Gunter Gebauer's and Christoph Wulf's Mimesis: Culture--Art--Society. I am looking for writings on digital, hypertextual mimesis, and how it differs, how it has altered, the theoretical embodiment of representation in thought, artefacts, language and culture.

Your help, ideas and advice are much appreciated, as always

Boy requires more conclusions in writing.

mrgreyisyelling — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 07:00:04 -0800

As a result of my poor vocabulary, I use the term 'as a result', 'therefore,' and other like words far too often. Help me state my conclusions with eloquence! Because of my many pages of papers in the last week, I've become tone deaf to my writing. I just re-read a paragraph in a paper I handed in where I used 'As a result' probably three times. Total shame.

Therefore, I require assistance in order to overcome this communication impasse. Increase in phrase count will help immensely. Must be in that professional, analytic, non-first-person way. ( no 'I think, I assume, Leads me to believe' )

(Well aware I could write around these statements - but whats the fun in that?)

I find the nature of this technique Quite Intriguing.

Rhaomi — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:37:34 -0800

What's the deal with Sarcastic Caps? You know The Kind I Mean. Connoisseurs of snark will be long familiar with this Little Trick: capitalizing Certain Words in a sentence in order to express what I guess you would call Sarcastic Importance. (NO, NOT LIKE THIS -- THIS MEANS INTERNET SHOUTING AND MOTORMOUTHINESS.) What I'm talking about is Much More Subtle than that.

I see it All The Time on snarkfests like Wonkette, and have been partial to it myself. It seems to only "work" on short phrases instead of single words For Some Reason.

So, where does this Ubiquitous Technique come from? Does it have a name? And why is it so good at conveying sarcasm?

The best guess I could make is that it's based on the Seemingly Random capitalizations found in Distinguished Documents like the Declaration of Independence (previously), but I don't see how that gets transferred to Sarcastic Internet Writing. Alas, the topic is Sadly Un-Googleable.

Anybody got any ideas?

How do I learn shorthand?

reenum — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:46:01 -0800

What are the best ways to learn shorthand? I've been meaning to learn shorthand for a while. Are there any particularly good books, tips, resources, or sites that can speed up the process.

Plus, if there are different techniques, I'd like to know which is best. I know next to nothing about the topic, except that it would be awesome to learn.

If it makes a difference, I'm a lawyer. It would be a big help in client conferences.

The last thread was helpful, but there was a dearth of responses.

What can you tell me about 'Poe(t)heory'?

0bvious — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:51:54 -0800

What can you tell me about 'Poe(t)heory'? I have found little online regarding Poetheory, but it seems to be interchangable with the title 'Theorypo'. How separate a distinction is it from merely 'postmodern theory and poetry'? What sources of info should I be seeking?

Marjorie Perloff and Peter Jaeger are names that crop up regarding poetheory. Anyone else you know of or any related disciplines/schools/concepts?

Thanks

Language-Related Equivalent of Empathy?

amyms — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:23:41 -0800

Is there a word or a phrase, other than the too-broad "understand," for when a listener understands what someone else is trying to convey even when the speaker doesn't express it clearly and/or correctly? For instance, if someone uses a double negative like "I ain't got none" or "I didn't hear nothing," we all understand what they mean, even though syntactically the sentences mean the opposite. Or, if someone misuses a common phrase, like the examples in this thread, we still know what they meant to say. Or, if someone is peppering their speech with lots of slang, we may not know exactly what each slang term means, but we can still get the gist of what they're saying.

I'm not looking for response-type phrases that mean "I understand what you're saying" (e.g. "I got ya," "I hear that," etc.)... I'm looking for a general term for the understanding itself.

The best way I can describe what I want is that I'm looking for the language-related equivalent of "empathy."

How Things 'Become': The Infinity of Definition

0bvious — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:18:41 -0800

I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. I am interested in the exponentially divergent curve that is definition.

We create writings and art to better define the world, yet true definition is infinite.

We mediate the universe by erecting borders of definition, i.e. all striped, four-legged, hooved mammals are probably zebras. We categorise the universe into hierarchies, but the more we examine the more pronounced and expansive these hierarchies become.

Language is our greatest defining tool. Yet, the metaphors we evolve to expand the potential of language can themselves only be made to refer back to the language which created them. An infinite loop emerges in most definition.

As new technology emerges we use it to 'add' meaning to artifacts which are already partly defined. By looking at the world with ever more refined microscopes we bring reality into greater clarity. This metaphor can be expanded to refer to texts, art, archaeology, culture etc.

Who has written on the problem of definition? What critical theory has been written on the emergence of infinity?

This question adds on to past questions I have asked at MeFi including (in reverse order):

- Art and artifacts experienced through technology
- The mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts
- Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth

Here's hoping you have some ideas...

The mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts

0bvious — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:58:58 -0800

I am interested in the mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts, how cultural remnants transmit information through time and how meaning is translated once an artefact is re-appropriated or examined from a new perspective. I have several avenues of study at the moment (a list in extended explanation), but would like some more ideas. Areas of critical theory, linguistics, evolutionary psychology and poetics are all relevant. I want to show that the narratives and metaphors which can be understood as the architecture of our brains are somehow mimetically present in the physical, cultural and linguistic artefacts which surround us.

Here are a few of the readings I have gathered so far:

- Anthropological and evolutionary studies into the nature and transmission of narrative by Michelle Scalise Sugiyama (in particular her essay 'Reverse-Engineering Narrative' from the book 'The Literary Animal').
- Mikhail Bakhtin's 'Discourse in the Novel' (where he talks about language as having 'genres' or 'tastes' which can transmit as much meaning as the words themselves).
- Michael Shanks and Lynn Hershman Leeson's conversation at Seed Magazine on 'Presence' in art and archaeology and how new technologies affect it.
- Susan A. Stewart's book 'On Longing'.
- Gaston Bachelard's book 'The Poetics of Space'

Thanks in advance!

Help me learn how to write better in French.

mikel — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:05:51 -0800

Does anyone have a suggestion for where to go in Montreal to improve my written French? I've lived here for most of my adult life and my spoken French is very good (meaning I can live for extended periods - days at a time - entirely in French), as is my reading. Writing, however, escapes me.

So - there are lots of Montrealers here... Where can I go to work on my written French? The Cont-Ed department of one of the universities? Private language school? Tutor or individual lessons?

The subject verbs the object

sarahkeebs — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:46:51 -0800

Explain tenses to me? Past/present/future, continuous/simple/perfect, and so on, in English. I can use them with fluency, but I need to be able to explain them (when each is used, how to form them). I've tried Fowler's, Chicago Manual of Style, and a number of other resources, but they seem to subtly contradict one another. Is there a simple, go-to reference for this?

Suggest some similar similes!

perissodactyl — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:19:05 -0800

Help me come up with an evocative simile that conveys a profound but unemotional appreciation of a thing. My existing, imperfect prose is inside for your delectation. The below is not right at all, because a viewer's interaction with a good work of art -- even non-representational modern art -- is fundamentally emotional:

"I admired [thing] as one might admire a painting by Jackson Pollock: I reveled in its complexity and elegance, but abstractly, without emotional investment. "

Any suggestions? Feel free to toy with sentence structure if you wish; nothing is set in stone!

I never give congratulations in restaurants...

allkindsoftime — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:34:50 -0800

Spelling filter: Why do I ALWAYS struggle with the same few particular words? I realize the question is *similar* to here, and here, all of which I enjoyed reading, but never found much related to my *specific* question...(bear with me)

I can't spell "restaraunt." I want to put the "u" after the second "a," not the first, and its ALWAYS been this way. As much as I concentrate on this word, I can't get it right, every time I want to type it I have to pause and think really hard (basically think through most of what I've typed up to this point), and only then can I get it right.

There are a few other words I consistently mis-spell. In particular: congratulations (default: congradulations - replacing the "t" with a "d"), also refrigerator (default: refridgerator - inserting an unnecessary "d"). These are the primary words I can't get, although there may be a couple others. Its only a few, though, and generally a similar problem as above - I get all/most of the right letters in the word, but not in the right places, and usually its just one letter that's transposed to the wrong place. I have almost zero trouble with the "i" before "e" rule, it generally seems random as to whether it happens with consonants or vowels.

I write a lot, consider myself pretty damn good with spelling and grammar over all (I haven't had to go back and correct one word yet in this question, for instance), but I still can't spell restaurant. There, that time I concentrated as I wrote it.

So, finally, my questions:

A) Is there a term for this? I don't think I have any kind of dyslexia or anything like that, but who knows - maybe a mild form?

B) Does this happen to anyone else? If so, with what words?

C) Is there any hope for ever being able to type restaurant or congratulations without thinking about it, like I do for 99% of the other words that are germane to my daily vocabulary?

Arabic tapestry?

nervestaple — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:40:47 -0800

What does the writing on this tapestry mean? It looks like Arabic, but I'm not sure. It's been hanging in the house for a while, but nobody has been able to figure out what the writing in the center means. Anyone? Any other information about the tapestry would be helpful, too. Thanks!

Cussin' and Writin'

clairezulkey — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:33:08 -0800

Writers: When do you use profanity in writing? I'm working on an essay, and I'm at a section where I'm yelling at my boyfriend for doing something stupid and I'm waffling between putting down what I really said ("You better cut this shit out"), and making it nicer ("You better cut this out.")

Eventually I'd like to submit this essay to a major newspaper so I'll take out the profanity, but I was just curious if you other writers have policies on how much profanity you use in your writing--as much as you want? Just for effect? None at all?

Obviously, if you're writing for the New York Times, you're not going to be dropping f-bombs in your pieces, but how about for your fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, blogs, plays, screenplays?

Oops, that's not quite what I meant...

dragonsi55 — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 07:51:47 -0800

Wordfilter: looking for a word or phrase that describes social paradoxical effects, where the action results in the opposite of its intention. The phrase 'paradoxical effect' comes up in medicine and biochemistry, when a substance initiates a chain which sends the system the opposite direction from what is 'normal.'
Homeopathy is based on the principle.

Two social examples:
Blue-chip companies not recruiting straight-A students like they once did.
One reason being a higher incidence of cheaters, who are more likely to embezzle;
another aspect being that one or two poorer grades indicated better prioritizing.
(I can't locate the original article on this.)

Another is the recent news about "Troops in debt can't go overseas,"
which is likely to increase the number of troops going into debt.

There's an aspect of feedback here,
but none of these have that hint of 'oops,' where it seemed like a good idea at the time…

This seems like something an economics phrase or a German word would describe.
Perhaps I'm trying to split too fine a hair,
but AskMe has amazed me in the past.
Any ideas?

What do you call those little quotes in books?

SansPoint — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:56:48 -0800

What is the term for those little quotes that sometimes open books? Say when you start reading a novel, and just at the start there's a quote from Shakespeare or something? I'm completely blanking. I think it might be "epigram", but I'm sure it's not.

I'm planning to open my NaNoWriMo project with a quote from Laurie Anderson's "O Superman", which is why I'm trying to figure out what this is called.

Guides to Rhetoric

New Frontier — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 10:16:03 -0800

Can anyone recommend any good books on rhetorical devices? I'm interested in works that classify the different types of rhetorical devices, and provide examples of their use.

How do I develop writing skills in a non-native language?

gregb1007 — Thu, 18 May 2006 14:24:08 -0800

How can I develop writing skills in a non-native language? Does anyone have any tips for developing a writing style in a foreign language? Knowing the conversational side of the language unfortunately doesn't take care of the written one. People don't speak the way they write. What's the best way to practice using vocabulary and stylistic constructs specific to writing?

Ideas for language/literature-based events

lalalana — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 17:58:31 -0800

I'm interested in learning more about language/literature-based events. Not so much the traditional poetry reading, more like innovative ways people come together in a relaxed environment to do some sort of activity that revolves around reading stuff aloud and telling stories. I know about the old Fray Cafes, and I know that This American Life had a letter-reading show a few years ago, and I know about the Cringe Readings, where people read from their embarrassing adolescent journals and the like, and I know about the Little Gray Book Lectures .

Anyone know about more these kinds of things? Any interesting ideas for new events of this kind? Experiences promoting and organizing this kind of thing?

Kiss my 'S-es'.

fucker — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:51:11 -0800

What's the deal with expressing ownership on names that end in 's'? If I had a buddy named 'Loveless' and wanted to talk about his pet dog, I would write "Loveless' pet dog". But I would clearly pronounce the exact same sentence like "Lovelesses pet dog". Doesn't that suck?