Quotes About Linguistics

Calling pronouns like ze and hir "new pronouns" or "neopronouns" is misleading too, because these words are relatively old. They may be enjoying a renaissance today, but ze appears in 1864, introduced by someone known only by the initials J. W. L., and hir first popped up a century ago, invented, or at least introduced to readers in California, by the editor of the Sacramento Bee on August 14, 1920.

Than is both a conjunction and a preposition; it's a floor wax and a dessert topping.

we know that Francis Brewster coined E, es, and em in 1841, and Charles Crozat Converse announced thon and thons in 1884, though he may have invented his common-gender pronouns as early as 1858.

He said a bad word. Do you want to know what it was? It started with F. It's not the one you're thinking of, though. To the other one. The one that ends with P. do you want to know what it was? It was troop." She frowned. "Wait that's not a word.

Are you one of those people who uses words more for the sound than for the sense of them?

You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.

It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.

I'm learning Cuban. It's like Spanish, but with fewer words for luxury items.

Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.

I never found accents difficult, after learning languages.

We lack the analogies' was itself somehow deficient as a diagnosis, linguists burning up during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere after encountering Area X.

Regresé junto al otro carrito y di media vuelta hacia la sección de deportes y excursionismo para ver si había un radiotransmisor portátil de doble banda, lo que en lengua vernácula se conoce como walkie-talkie, y en francés como talkie-walkie.

Bethyl Ann has vomited words like she ate the dictionary.

for the vernacular which he was adept at converting

Brotha needed to buy a vowel and rent a verb, then get a roll of duct tape slapped on that broken English.

DIDEROT: Vy Å¡ejdíÃ…â"¢i! THERBOUCHEOVÁ: Používejte pro mÄ› prosím femininum. Ã…Ëœíkejte mi Å¡ejdíÃ…â"¢ko. DIDEROT (temnÄ›): V ženském rodÄ› se Ã…â"¢íká spíÅ¡ dÄ›vka.

Sumerian was not the only language spoken in southern Mesopotamia (the region known as Sumer). Akkadian, the Semitic language of central Mesopotamia, showed up in subtle ways as well.

Along with tableity (the condition of being a table) and paneity (the state of being bread), cellarhood is a wonderful example of the spectacular ways English has of describing things that no ever thinks it necessary to describe.

Preantepenult (adj.) Not the last, not the one before the last, and not the one before the one before the last. The next one. A sterling example of how it often can be far more confusing to use one word than several. It is far easier to say "the third from the last" than preantepenult. Prend

Yepsen (n.) The amount that can be held in two hands cupped together; also, the two cupped hands themselves. A measurement that has never really caught on like the teaspoon, the yepsen also falls firmly within the category of things for which you never thought there was a word—at least, not until some interfering busybody like me came along and told you what it was. Yesterneve

The Verbalist, 1894

Among people who might be described as having at least a passing regard for the English language, there are few instances of usage that evoke a desire to mutilate more than the perceived misuse of literally.

Did he have Ruscha so he could pronounce "Ruscha"?

Who taught you to swear first? Who burst your head wide open with a sentence? Whose linguistic tics have you ingested, do you know, bust out without thinking