#The english language

[yeoldenews]

I was surprised earlier this week when I came across the word “spicy” (as used to describe rumors/gossip) in an article from 1906, and got curious how old the expression was. After digging around for a few hours, the earliest use of the word in this context I could find was 1845. Interestingly the word “juicy” (same context) appears to have popped up not long after in the mid-1850s.

So I just thought it was very important for all you historical fiction writers out there know that you can have Queen Victoria discuss the juiciest gossip with her ladies in waiting or Millard Fillmore ask for the spicy details and be 100% historically accurate.

(image source: The St. Louis Post Dispatch, July 26, 1884.)

[brazilspill]

The fact that the crusty stuff you get in your eyes when you wake up is called "sleep" in English bothers me so much.

In Portuguese it has its own independent word: remela.

[toomagazineperfection]

A life so great of her.

A night so loved of hers.

A poetic instance.

A poem.

A love.

Her.

Sunidhi

[1njjrd]

[physalian]

When you spend a long time writing in one tense, having to switch back to the other to edit looks like bizzaro English. All my knowledge of grammar rules goes out the window staring at some sentences that look so jank, I've been consulting my mental dictionary of English verb tenses to make sure everything's correct for days now.

[kinkykinard]

Around here we've always pronounced it appa-lay-shun so when I heard it the other way for the first time a few days ago it was like a punch to the face.

[thegreatbuttoneer]

NEWSIES INCORRECT QUOTES

Davey Jacobs: How should I break this dime..

Racetrack Higgins: Snap it in half?

Davey Jacobs: I- no?

—————————————

source: me & my friend trying to break a 50$ bill, but no newsie would ever own 50$

[reneees]

A life loves a red moon.

A live swells in the sparing on the lie that shares.

A light that works through the night.

Her.

Sunidhi

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

The internet is so god damn annoying.

This fun little piece came up on my instagram feed:

And the comments are insufferable!

First, you have people insisting “dove” as a verb is not a word. They are wrong lmao. They’re claiming “dived” is the past tense for “dive” in the UK, but we only use “dove” in the US, and killjoy Brits are in the comments like “lulz American English isn’t real English.” It’s called a dialect, you arrogant morons.

Then, you have people saying these heteronyms are a sign of English being a failed language. Again, this is incomprehensibly stupid. That is not how language works! There’s no way to measure the “success” of a language lol and to say it’s failed because of heteronyms is just brain worms.

Finally, you have people insisting English isn’t hard to learn and it’s only dumbass monolingual English speakers who think so. I guarantee you that if I showed this little page to my ESL students, it would trip them up. Every language has the potential to be difficult to learn, especially in adulthood, and what makes a language easy or hard to learn typically varies from person to person.

In summary, I hate to sound elitist, but people who know nothing at all about linguistics have THE dumbest takes on language.

[fruitfulchaos]

What I think the English language is really lacking are proper diminutives and augmentatives. All you have is stuff like cat -> kitty or lord -> overlord. As a polish speaker, this sucks ass. Our diminutives and augmentatives are MUCH more expressive and y'all are really missing out. We can diminutivise words until they become nearly unintelligible. Example:

1. kot (cat)

2. kotek (kitty)

3. koteczek (smaller/cuter kitty)

4. koteczuniek (even more)

5. kotesiunieczek (holy shit)

Not only that, but we can also diminutivise adjectives, verbs, pronouns and adverbs. You can cuteify the adjective "cute"!

More linguistic yapping:

That is, because not only do we include the process of deminutiva sensu stricto, which is your average diminutive, but we also make use of hypocorisms (the process of pet-name-ification) in a much wider area of speech. The diminutive can also be used in a demeaning way and that is actually, factually a separate type of diminutive!

Not only that, but because of, yknow, the way language is used, often words which were already diminutives have replaced its root word in degree of usage, which led to NEW diminutives being created for these diminutives!

An example could be the word książka, as in book. It came from diminutivising the word księga, but soon the roles reversed and książka became the root word, with księga being treated as an augmentative. That meant, however, that książka still needed a further diminutive - that's how książeczka came to life.

I could write an entire article about it but I'll spare myself the work lol this is me exposing myself as a linguist

[you-need-not-apply]

I’m bored and have access to dictionaries, give me a number and I’ll give you a word

[toomagazineperfection]

War is a great actor.

A night is a tone breaker.

A love is a God hone.

A hone is a God night.

Her.

Sunidhi

[roseofhybrids]

perhaps "sass" is slang for "smart ass" the meanings are similar, and you'd get sass just by removing the "mart" from "smart" it makes so much sen-

what do you mean SAUCE entry 1?!?!