It’s been a while since I last wrote here! Over three years to be precise… I’m now 2900+ miles away from where I last posted from and in a very different place in my life. Fortunately, I still love words, and I want to share a few links I have found lately that might be […][...]
Author Archive
October 29th, 2012 - 1:50 pm § in alphabet, etymology, foreign language, japanese, language evolution, mysteries of english, spelling, vocabulary, word origins
Linguistics Link Love – Americanisms and Japanese Kanji
October 8th, 2009 - 12:28 pm § in language and thought, language learning
Koko the Gorilla
This was the topic of discussion at last night’s anthropology class… There have been several attempts to teach animals language in the past. What we’ve learned is that some animals may actually have the capacity for language… but none have the speech capabilities that humans [...]
Words of the Day (10/02)
Here’s the next installment of Friday words. For all my Words of the Day posts, click HERE. Etymologies: Fall. (Noun. Synonym for autumn – fall is actually only used in the U.S.). This is from 1664, and it’s short for “fall of the leaf” (1545). Halloween. (Noun. October 31[...]
Does language make us human?
I’m currently taking 2 anthropology courses at a local community college (Mission College), and one aspect of cultural anthropology is language. In the wild, animals can communicate with different sounds and movement. Honeybees even have a way to convey where the best flowers and pollen are. D[...]
Words of the Day (9/25)
Here’s the next installment of my Friday words. For all my Words of the Day posts, click HERE. Etymologies: Assassin. (Noun. A murderer of an important person, generally for political or religious reasons.) This word comes from the Arabic word hashishiyyin (hashish-users). A slightly nutty Ism[...]