Quotes About Language

It seemed to Alice that the drunk should have been struck dead for using such language in a church, but before God could take any action against the down-and-out, William resumed playing—with a vengeance.

And Juan Diego had selected this particular book because it was in English; he'd wanted more practice reading English, though his less-than-rapt audience (Lupe and Rivera and the disagreeable dog Dirty White) might have understood him better en español.

Pinche pendejo chimuelo!

Hijo de la chingada!

It was not only because he spoke their language; it was his voice that compelled the children to listen to him—it was a voice like their voices. That was why they trusted him, why they listened. "DOONG SA," he said, and they stopped crying.

Every misunderstanding has at its center a breakdown of language.

And when you love a book, commit one glorious sentence of it, -perhaps your favorite sentence- to memory. That way you won't forget the language of the story that perhaps moved you to tears.

I just love it when certain people feel free to tell writers what the correct words are. When I hear the same people use impact as a verb, I want to throw up!

Lupe's language was incomprehensible—what came out of her mouth didn't even sound like Spanish.

But Americans are not great historians, and so, for years—educated by my neighbor—I thought that sagamore was an Indian word for lake.

He had just one vowel and one consonant left.

I read that part over and over again, until I felt I had the pronunciation right. There was quite a good pencil drawing of a phoenix, that mythical bird that was supposed

Quite understandably, as a Jew, Noah felt that German was the language of his people's executioners and he refused to learn a word of it.)

Parce que, à sa façon de causer, on voyait bien que le gars était allé très longtemps à l'école. C'était probablement ce qui l'avait rendu dingue.

Avant-garde is French for bullshit

In ancient Greek the word 'idiot' meant anyone who wasn't a politician.

In Spanish, the word esposas means both 'wives' and 'handcuffs'.

Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo all mean 'capital' in their respective languages.

Pedants should be aware that the English name for the world's highest mountain should be spoken aloud as EEV-uh-rest, not EV-uh-rest.

Zischeln is a useful German verb meaning "to whisper angrily.

What is literally the most misused word in the English language? The word 'literally' has been used to mean its opposite for over 200 years.

Introducing 'Lite' – The new way to spell 'Light', but with 20 per cent fewer letters. JERRY SEINFELD

Plants grow more quickly if you talk to them in a Geordie accent.

Ursus arctos isn't the polar bear, it's the brown bear. Ursus means "bear" in Latin and arctos means "bear" in Greek. The Arctic is named after the bear, not the other way around; it