Language & Grammar discussion

NYT apparently tracks words that online readers have to look up. How many do you know? I plead guilty to not knowing parlous, but I'm amazed that people never seem to have heard of The Three Little Swine.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/06/ny-t...

Wow. A treasure trove of "Words of the Day" there! Sui generis, indeed!

How do they know who is looking up what?

Interesting that feckless and fecklessness are both there! I knew parlous, but there were others that were new to me......and interesting too that both swine and pandemic were there.

They've got links to the words and can track when people click for definitions. But damned if I know how they know who.

Same way Big Brother Google knows. ISPs, etc. Except Google stores your searches forever, ready to share with the Feds (or others) if necessary. Not sure about the NYT.

Newengland wrote: "Same way Big Brother Google knows. ISPs, etc. Except Google stores your searches forever, ready to share with the Feds (or others) if necessary. Not sure about the NYT."

A cautionary tale...

Ruth wrote: "...I'm amazed that people never seem to have heard of The Three Little Swine."

That is perplexing. I wonder if that has to do with context. Maybe it was used in a sentence that seemed to infer an alternate meaning.

I missed 7 out of 50. It helps me that I know a little philosophy. On the other hand, many of the rest I've only learned in the last five or six years. "Apotheosis" is the last word I figured out.

"Ersatz" is a word I've never had trouble with, but I've heard many people friends get confused over it. Besides swine, I can't believe so many people don't know "glut" or "antebellum"; I think the reason "pandemic" is on the list is that the mass media abuses the word to sensationalize every illness, so people are trying to figure out the difference between it and "epidemic."

If you like "pandemic" you'll love "epizootic," a disease that is widespread in a non-human animal population.

How exzootic.

That's a good one.

Solipsistic was a new one for me,
almost on the verge of megalomania.

I learned solipsistic from that classic solipsist himself, Leo Tolstoy. Come to think of it, MOST writers would come under the dogegory of "solipsist," no?

Isn't that Congresscritters?

I think it is a genus called politianocology.

Ask and you shall receive.

25, I'd really feel fecklees now if I were a native speaker.

Btw, English is by far the wordiest language I know. I've read once that the biggest English dictionary had three times the number of words the biggest French one has. On the other hand, English grammar isn't very complicated, which makes it easy for a foreigner to learn basic English, but nearly impossible to attain the level of eloquence you can achieve in French, for instance.

grebrim wrote: "Btw, English is by far the wordiest language I know. I've read once that the biggest English dictionary had three times the number of words the biggest French one has. On the other hand, English gr..."

My husband, who grew up in Norway, is always remarking at the size of an American dictionary compared to a Norewegian one.

In English we usually have 3 or 4 word that mean the same thing (clothes, garments apparel)
Before the Norman invasion of 1066, English was based on Anglo-Saxon words, a Germantic language. Then the Normans brought their Norman-French, another hybrid of Latin (French) and Norse. Instead of one language taking over, all the language were used, with the latin-rooted word being the language of the aristocracy & all the wanna-be aristocrats. The anglo Saxon was preferred by those who resented the invaders & used an "English for the English" vocabulary. In time one large, clumsy but interesting language emerged. Add all the "Americanisms" picked up from various ethnic groups & the language grows even richer.

Yes, old William (such an English name for a French invader) really threw our language for a loop.

And I see echoes between the Americans and the Anglo-Saxons. We do it our way.

Marian: In my opinion, the biggest problem you face as a learner is not the several words for the same meaning, but the several meanings fo one word, which sometimes makes English sentences hard to understand.

Through? Through? What could you possibly mean, Gabi? Look again. I think you're seeing things.

;-)

The edit button is a marvelous thing.

Ummmm....that would be marvellous NE!!

You can carry the extra letters. We're nothing if not efficient here in the Colonies.

Oh yeah. The Penal Colony. Whoops. You can trade sob stories with Georgia over a beer.

You gave up your right to the term 'colony' when you rebelled back in the 1770's!