I don’t mean to drag the long bow here, but here are some sizzling saucebox phrases from the 19th century.
Archive for the ‘language’ Category
gender neutral
As weird as they may sound, I’m a fan of the Spivak pronouns.
lex appeal
The Oxford University Press Word of the Year has been announced: unfriend.
word of the day
“Donaudampfschiffahrtselek-
trizitaetenhauptbetriebswerk-
bauunterbeamtengesellschaft”
English: Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services. This is an example of the virtually unlimited compounding of nouns that is possible in many Germanic languages; with 79 letters, according to the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest word published in the German language
for English majors
Need to diagram a sentence? Look no further.
elocution
This is what you get when you Twitter the U.S. Constitution
Pre-A: We the people R the man. Here’s how it rolls. Art1: Congress do law. Got Senate/House-o-Reps.
HR 2yr deal. Reps mst b 25, homie citz 7yrs. 1R per 30k pop/min 1R per St. St pop #s @10yrs. Guv pix subs. HR pix own bigs. HR impeaches Clinton.
Sen 6yr deal. 1/3 go @2yrs. 2Ss/St Mst b 30, homie citz 9yrs. VP tiebreaks. S gives Clinton a bye.
$ Bills fr H & pass S w/amends. Prez mst X or nix. 2/3H&S 2 nix nix
Cong power = Tax Mooch Tariff Green crd Chapt 11 Print $ Bust cons Pat pend Law up War on Hang pirates.
Cong power not = No habeas corp No x post facto law Free trade 4 Sts. Kings dukes for. poofters R bogus.
Sts pow not = For. treats Cust. duties @ other Sts. Go 2 war w/o say please
Art2: Prez 4yrs per Elec Col SAT score VP ditto VP subs. mst b nat born homie 35. Defnds Const & CnC Army Navy Air Force MarinesPrez pow = For. treats w 2/3S yes Appts Cabnt offs Ambs Sup Ct Js DoD brass w S yes Hi Cong Bye Cong St-o-Un add. No smoking.
Art3: Sup Ct rox Treason sux. Art4: Sts R cool Newbie Sts per Cong. Art5: Amend Con=2/3H&S+3/4Sts. Art6: US IOUs cool Const rox No God Squad
Art7: G2G TTFN. 9/17/1787. Bill-o-Rites TK
Flame on -church+guns. No GIs n cribz. No frisk w/o ProbCawz Due Pross rox Plea5th Get off my lawn SpeedTrialz w/jur­str. Pwr 2 D Peeps.
thx mom!
special sauce
Get your jargon right or I’ll make you do the dance of the flaming rooster.
lingua infinitum
Wordnik is an ongoing project devoted to discovering
all the words and everything about them.
lilt and Moiety
Here are the 100 most beautiful words in the English language, according to one Robert Beard. I’m inclined to agree with him.
Insouciance.
Peccadillo.
Seraglio.
Diaphanous.
I’m positively chlorochrous with envy
Here is a list of 168 definitions of obscure color terms for your perusal.
ways of words
The elements of telling a good story, by Ira Glass, host of “This American Life.”
disease and language
The Great Vowel Shift was a “major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in the south of England between 1200 and 1600,” which brought about the transformation form Middle to Modern English. Fascinating chart and explanation at the link.
OK computer
This text-to-speech generator is done rather well.
