The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. A dictionary of slang - "A" - English slang of the UK. Better Than English: Untranslatable Words. Expressions & Sayings Index. If you prefer to go directly to the meaning and origin of a specific expression, click on its relevant entry in the alphabetical list below.
Use this alphabet to speed up your search: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. Filler (linguistics) In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but has not yet finished speaking.[1] These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig, which refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown.
Different languages have different characteristic filler sounds; in English, the most common filler sounds are uh /ʌ/, er /ɜː/ and um /ʌm/.[2] Among youths, the fillers "like", "y'know", "I mean", "so", "actually", "literally", "basically", "right", "I'm tellin' ya" and "you know what I mean? " are among the more prevalent. Ronald Reagan was famous for answering questions starting with "Well... ". Learn Chinese Characters. Lexicon Valley on the common perception that some languages are spoken faster than others. Listen to Lexicon Valley Episode #18: The Rate of Exchange.
We’ve all known people who are deliberate, even plodding, talkers, taking their time with seemingly every word. And then there are those who spit out their sentences with barely a breath in between. Such variation among individuals is understandable (and at times even cultural), but what about among languages themselves? In other words, is Spanish in general spoken faster than English? Is English faster than Chinese? Shorthand "Groote" The Dutch shorthand system "Groote" was introduced in 1899 by A.W.
Groote, aide to a Dutch general. Apparently he needed a system that he could use to take down the general's words while riding a horse! Should We Care About Grammar and Spelling on Twitter? Many people assume I am a guardian of grammar.
The typical plane-ride conversation goes like this: “What do you do?”” “I am an English professor” “Oh! Software Translates Your Voice into Another Language. Researchers at Microsoft have made software that can learn the sound of your voice, and then use it to speak a language that you don’t.
The system could be used to make language tutoring software more personal, or to make tools for travelers. In a demonstration at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, campus on Tuesday, Microsoft research scientist Frank Soong showed how his software could read out text in Spanish using the voice of his boss, Rick Rashid, who leads Microsoft’s research efforts. In a second demonstration, Soong used his software to grant Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, the ability to speak Mandarin.
Hear Rick Rashid’s voice in his native language and then translated into several other languages: English: Speech Accent Archive. The Awful German Language. By Mark Twain A little learning makes the whole world kin. -- Proverbs xxxii, 7.
I went often to look at the collection of curiosities in Heidelberg Castle, and one day I surprised the keeper of it with my German. THE MOST COMMON WORDS IN ENGLISH. The Phrontistery: Obscure Words and Vocabulary Resources. What concepts do not exist in the English language? Carl Honoré (In Praise of Slow) says Canada's Baffin Island Inuit "use the same word—'uvatiarru'—to mean both 'in the distant past' and 'in the distant future.' Time, in such cultures, is always coming as well as going.
" In an essay by Louise Edrich (Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in the Heart), she writes about learning Ojibwemownin and how "nouns are mainly desginated as alive or dead, animate or inanimate...once I began to think of stones as animate, I started to wonder whether I was picking up a stone or it was putting iteslf in my hand. " I'm fascinated by language reflecting culture and vice versa. Any reference you've run across in passing or even know about as a multi-lingual MeFite is welcome. Moreover, if English isn't your primary language, what words/concepts made you take pause?
Why does fall/autumn have 2 names? Ambivalence over the name of the third season of the year reflects its status as a relatively new concept.
As natural as it seems today, people haven't always thought of the year in terms of four seasons. Fifteen hundred years ago, the Anglo-Saxons marked the passage of time with just one season: winter, a concept considered equivalent to hardship or adversity that metaphorically represented the year in its entirety. World English : test, learn and study the English language online. Japanesetranslator.co.uk. In Japanese, foreign names are normally written using the phonetic katakana alphabet.
To see what your name looks like in Japanese, just type it in below and click the “Translate” button. If you like, you can also choose from a few different character styles. Notes.