ἢ τίς ἐστιν ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄνθρωπος, “The… who / what / which… is from you… man…” All right: look for the nominative, the verb, the prepositions, and shift the word order around accordingly. “Which of you men…” I’ve been taking … Continue reading
Our family loves the Olympics (we even created themed snacks to mark the occasion!). They’re such an interesting study in cultural dynamics. For example, this year’s Opening Ceremonies, in particular, reminded me of a strange quirk of international protocol: Naming … Continue reading
I’m active and aggressive when it comes to unsubscribing from corporate e-mail flyers. I prefer to keep a clean inbox. So I excuse myself from as many of the mindless mountains of advertisements I possibly can… Unless they’re in Dutch. It’s weird, but … Continue reading
“It’s the last little bits of lead that weigh the most.” “Unfortunately peanut butter.” Some Dutch expressions make perfect sense in English. Others: not so much. “Helaas pindakaas” — “Unfortunately peanut butter” — only makes sense because of the rhyme (though I actually … Continue reading
I love the imagery of the phrase “holding serve.” The act of “holding serve,” however, isn’t satisfying to me at all. I’ve found myself using this word picture several times in recent weeks. The conversational path to this phrase has … Continue reading
I don’t remember all that much about my Uncle Arlen. Wiry reddish hair, a strong northern accent, a penchant for sarcasm… Mostly vague recollections beyond that. One strong association, however, relates to Uncle Arlen’s feelings about the word “irregardless.” “There is no such word!” he’d … Continue reading
The chart above and the study from which it was produced are a sort of sweet spot of intrigue for me: the place where the love of linguistics, statistics, and the cultures of Europe meet. From my personal experiences in … Continue reading
Call me Wang Zi. Or Emir, if you prefer. These are my international names: rough translations of “Eric” in Chinese and Arabic, respectively. If my understanding is correct, all three names are relatively common in their associated parts of the … Continue reading
The two American household items pictured above are almost never juxtaposed side-by-side — though they are available in just about any American grocery store — yet they happen to represent two highly common household items which are almost always placed … Continue reading
My eight-year-old daughter can read faster than me. No exaggeration. It’s already been awhile since her older brother surpassed my reading pace — tapping his foot impatiently on Sunday mornings, waiting for me to finish the front page of the Sports … Continue reading
