Wednesday May 23rd 2012
Johnson
Language
Etymology
Etymology man!
Feb 3rd 2012, 16:34 by R.L.G. | NEW YORK
JOHNSON readers have asked for more etymology. Well, that's the opposite of what these hapless folks in need of a superhero called for. From the always excellent xkcd.
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In this blog, named after the dictionary-maker Samuel Johnson, our correspondents write about the effects that the use (and sometimes abuse) of language have on politics, society and culture around the world
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http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21481-young-goats-can-develop-dist...
So ewe wanna talk patois? Presumably the much maligned mixed hide color lambs were derided by the larger herd for their non standard bleating, which harmed their wolf fleeing potential within the larger group.
The danish have a phrase called 'flea-f*cking' to describe this very excessive detailed analysis
I just have a quick question regarding etymology. I've noticed that the Albanian word for green is "gjelber", while the German word for yellow is "gelb". Also, the Albanian word for yellow is "verdhe", while the Spanish word for green is "verde". I know Albanian is a fairly special language in itself, but does anybody know how those very similar words for different colours got mixed about between the three languages?
The cartoon seems to show an ongoing war between the praying mantises and the stick figures!
What an arthropocentric comic.
One could argue, stickthrocentric.
I just logged-in to say I recommend, Like and Tweet this post.
ha ha, I hate it when I forget which one is which!
It gets worse when you factor in "etiology" - the study of the causes of diseases.