linguisteresis

of, or related to a particular animal, by latin roots

2011-02-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Some are common knowledge, e.g. dog, cat, monkey, bird. I felt special that I knew a handful of the less common ones (cow, horse, wolf, bear, fox). Here is a list of some useful and some completely random animal adjectives.

Seeing the word asinine in the list yields great insight into its etymology.

Animal	Adjective
alligator	eusuchian
ant	formicine, myrmecine
anteater	myrmecophagine
antelope	alcelaphine, bubaline
ape	simian
armadillo	tolypeutine
ass	asinine
auk	alcidine
barracuda	percesocine
badger	musteline
bat	pteropine
bear	ursine
bee	apiarian
bird	avian, muscicapine, oscine (song), passerine (perching), penduline, volucrine
blackbird	icterine
bluebird	turdine
bobolink	icterine
buffalo	bubaline
bull	taurine
bullfinch	pyrrhuline
bunting	emberizine, pyrrhuloxine
buzzard	buteonine, cathartine
calf	vituline
camel	cameline
cardinal	pyrrhuloxine
cat	feline
chamois	rupicaprine
civet	viverrine
cormorant	phalacrocoracine
cow	bovine, vaccine
crab	cancrine
crane	alectorine
crow	corvine
cuckoo	cuculine
deer	cervine, elaphine
dodo	didine
dog	canine
dolphin	delphine
dormouse	myoxine
dove	columbine
duck	anatine, fuliguline
eagle	aquiline
elephant	elephantine
elk	cervine
ermine	musteline
falcon	accipitrine
ferret	musteline
finch	fringilline
fish	piscine, piscatorial
flea	pulicine
fox	vulpine
frog	bufotenine, ranine
gerbil	cricetine
gibbon	hylobatine
goat	caprine, hircine (smelly)
goose	anserine
gull	larine
hare	leporine
hawk	accipitrine, falconine
hog	suilline
hornet	vespine
horse	equine
hummingbird	trochiline
jay	garruline
kangaroo	macropodine
kestrel	falconine
kingfisher	halcyonine
kite	milvine
leech	hirudine
lemur	lemurine
leopard	pardine
lion	leonine
lizard	lacertilian, saurian
lobster	homarine
macaw	psittacine
magpie	garruline
mallard	anatine
marten	musteline
martin	hirundine
meadowlark	icterine
mink	musteline
mockingbird	mimine
mongoose	viverrine, herpestine
moose	cervine
mosquito	aedine, anopheline
moth	arctian
mouse	murine
mule	muline Note: stallion x jenny (female donkey) = hinny mare x jack (male donkey) = mule
nightingale	philomelian
opposum	didelphine
oriole	icterine
otter	lutrine
ox	bovine
oyster	ostracine
parakeet	psittacine
parrot	psittacine
partridge	perdicine
peacock	pavonine
pheasant	alectorine, phasianine
pig	porcine, suilline
pigeon	pullastrine
plover	charadrine
polecat	musteline
porcupine	hystricine
quail	coturnine
rabbit	leporine
raccoon	procyonine
ram	arietine
rat	murine
rattlesnake	crotaline
raven	corvine
reptile	reptilian, serpentine
rhinoceros	ceratorhine
robin	turdine
sable	zibeline
sea horse	hippocampine
seal	phocine, otarine
sheep	ovine
shrew	soricine
silkworm	bombycine
skunk	mephitine
skylark	alaudine
slug	limacine
smelt	atherine
snake	anguine, elapine, colubrine (garter,king), ophidian, reptilian, serpentine, viperine
snipe	charadrine
sparrow	passerine
squirrel	sciurine
stag	cervine, elaphine
stoat	musteline
stork	ciconine
sturgeon	acipenserine
swallow	hirundine
swan	cygnine
swift	cypseline
swine	porcine, suine
tick	acarine
tiger	tigrine
titmouse	parine
toad	batrachian
tortoise	chelonian, testudine
turkey	meleagrine
turtle	chelonian
viper	viperine
vulture	vulturine
wasp	vespine
weasel	musteline
wolf	lupine
wolverine	musteline
wombat	phascolomian
woodcock	charadrine, scolopacine
wren	troglodytine
zebra	zebrine

[via]

of psis, define sylle and reference elli

2011-02-09T08:00:00.003-06:00

Another use of ellipsis, the omission of unnecessary repeated information, is in zeugma. Zeugma, from the Greek word for "yoke", is stringing several sentences which share a common binding word together as one. For example:

"Mr. Jones took his coat and his leave."
"Friends, Romans, Countryman, lend me your ears!"

A much more interesting subset of zeugma is called a syllepsis, in which sentences are still joined by a common word, but a different meaning of the word is used each time. Some examples:

"You held your breath, and the door for me" -Alanis Morrisette
"Are you getting fit or having one?" -Hawkeye in M*A*S*H

egg on my face

2011-02-02T08:00:00.004-06:00

yoke has many definitions, mostly related to a burden, such as the beam over oxen shoulders to support a load, shoulders in general, or oxen in general.

yolk is just the yellow part of the egg.

posted immediately

2010-10-13T08:49:00.000-05:00

"stat", used most frequently by doctors to mean "immediately" comes to us from the Latin word "statim" with the same meaning.

analog(ue)

2010-09-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

I had thought that perhaps analog meant the opposite of discrete and analogue was the noun form of analagous (the subject of an analogy) but both spellings are the same word (like colour/color) and both spellings can have either meaning.

[via wiktionary]

sally contracted him to build her seashell stand

2010-06-01T08:00:00.006-05:00

I just need to share this amazing (and long) tongue-twister that comes together so elegantly and is reminiscient of buffalo buffalo buffalo in that you need to stress words just right or it would (wood) not make sense.

Esau Wood sawed wood. Esau Wood would saw wood. All the wood Esau Wood saw, Esau Wood would saw. In other words, all the wood Esau saw to saw, Esau sought to saw. Oh, the wood Wood would saw! And, oh the wood-saw with which Wood would saw wood! But one day, Wood's wood-saw would saw no wood, and thus the wood Wood sawed was not the wood Wood would saw if Wood's wood-saw would saw wood. Now, Wood would saw wood with a wood-saw that would saw wood, so Esau sought a saw that would saw wood. One day, Esau saw a saw saw wood as no other wood-saw Wood saw would saw wood. In fact, of all the wood-saws Wood ever saw saw wood, Wood never saw a wood-saw that would saw wood as the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood would saw wood, and I never saw a wood-saw that would saw as the wood-saw Wood saw would saw until I saw Esau Wood saw wood with the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood. Now Wood saws wood with the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood.

[via wikipedia]

ante up

2010-05-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

the latin word ante means "before" and is useful by itself but also as a root for many other words and phrases such as:

ante - by itself a poker term for the small buy-in fee placed before the round starts.
ante meridian - commonly seen as a.m., ante meridian translates to "before midday." (this leads to post meridian or p.m. which translates to "after midday")
antemortem - uttered almost daily on cbs (home of c.s.i.), this word means "before death."
antebellum - in the united states this typically refers to "before the civil war," but the phrase literally just meas before any war.
many similar "before" words in romance languages: antes (spanish); avant (french); avanti/anti- (italian)

~there's no ekscaping these common mispronunciations

2010-05-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

some of these are more common than others, but the words that really get me (in an engineering atmosphere) are 'acrost' and 'heighth'.

the etymology of the fake word 'heighth' is not too hard to imagine as several dimension qualifiers follow a similar pattern:

deep -> depth; wide -> width; long -> length; yet high -> height?

it would make some sense if height had an 'h' on the end, but it does not.

acrost is more difficult to pin down. the correct word to use is across and my theory is that the past tense of 'cross' in the example sentence 'we crossed the river' gets applied to across (i.e. 'we went acrossed the river') and it is pronounced as acrost.

several language blogs point out that this word has been in use for centuries (this is their proof that it is a real word) by high profile writers like mark twain and john steinbeck. i disregard these examples because the authors (in the adventures huckleberry finn and the grapes of wrath, respectively) are purposely using poor grammar from the voice of the narrator.

merriam-webster online has an entry listed for acrost, but it is not available unless you have a premium account, and my trusty hardcopy has no listing for acrost.

here is my list of some other chronically mispronounced words:

else/eltse
nuclear/nucular
both/bolth
supposedly/supposibly
drowning/drownding

those with phantom x's or other x trouble:

espresso/expresso
especially/ekspecially
exit/eggzit
asterisk/asterix

and several with mispronounced vowels:

pillow/pellow
milk/melk

what common mispronunciations drive you nuts?

invulncerible

2010-04-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

when i was little i learned the word invincible from superman comics. when i was a bit older i encountered a green powerup in doom that made you invulnerable and wondered why there was this slightly different word that apparently meant the same thing.

i have now discovered that these two words have subtle differences that are apparent in their latin roots:

invincible comes from the latin verb vincere, meaning "to conquer."
invulerable comes from the latin verb vulnerare, meaning "to wound."

so invincible means "unbeatable" - superman at times could be wounded (when kryptonite was present) but was never beaten - and invulnerable means "unwoundable" - in doom even when you were impervious to damage you could still be beaten in other ways.

aibohphobia

2010-04-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

great addition at language log to the recent linguisteresis post on palindromes:

the Urban Dictionary claims aibohphobia is a technical term for the irrational fear of palindromicity. The etymology will raise a smile. Just stare at the word for a few seconds, and it will reveal itself to you.

[via language log]

but wikipedia is my only source

2010-03-22T08:00:00.005-05:00

eclectic is a word that does not mean what i thought it meant. i had heard of eclectic music, eclectic houses, eclectic clothing style, and based on what i had seen the synonyms for eclectic i made in my head were whimsical, random, bohemian (if i am using that right?) and maybe a hint of snobby.

eclectic really means "of varied sources" and comes from ancient philosophers who picked and chose tidbits from several different systems of philosophy. eclectic music may have jazz, rock, and pop influences (now i can understand cities97); eclectic houses may have victorian and tudor styles blended together.

i find my taste in food to be very eclectic. golden corral fits my eclectic needs :)

harbringer

2010-03-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

this seems to be a rarer eggcorn, but one that i was guilty of.

a harbinger is someone or something that foreshadows someone or something that is to come (synonymous with an "omen"). i mistakenly thought there was another 'r' (i.e. "harbRinger"), assuming this object or person was literally "bringing har," and har was something ominous, to be sure :)

can't dampening cause damping?

2010-03-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

this may only interest engineers, but a smart guy i work with pointed out to a crowd of technical folk a mistake many of them were likely making: damping is the process of dissipating kinetic energy while dampENing is the process of making something moist.

looks like star trek may have had it wrong.

but i did not shoot the superscript

2010-03-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

www.therejectionist.com

a serif is a little tail added to the limbs of letters (example). knowing this explains why many fonts are referred to as "sans-serif" meaning, in latin, "without serifs."

font types with serifs are also commonly referred to as 'roman' fonts (e.g. times new roman) while sans-serif fonts are sometimes referred to as 'gothic' or 'grotesque' (e.g. century gothic or arial)

interesting tidbits - sans-serif fonts are typically used for headlines while serif fonts are used for body text because the serifs help guide eyes consistently across one line. however, the internet has made sans-serif body text much more common because serifs often rendered weirdly on low resolution or slow refresh rate screens.

for most intensive purposes

2010-03-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

an important linguistic concept is the eggcorn. an eggcorn is a word or phrase that is incorrect but is rooted in plausible sounds or reasoning. "eggcorn" itself is a reference to the common mispronunciation of the word acorn - with no official name for this phenomenon, this example became eponymous.

causes of eggcorns can vary but commonly include folk etymology ("preying" mantis), hypercorrection ("languistics"), and accounting for obscure or archaic words ("baited breath" to replace "bated breath").

eggcorns are subtly different from malapropisms, which are seen as erroneous uses of words or phrases, usually with nonsensical or comical results, e.g. mishearing song lyrics (electric boobs), confusing idioms ("moo point"), misusing big words)

for a great collection of eggcorns check out the eggcorn database. dont look too closely though, as this is a good spot for post ideas ;-)

teatea

2010-02-25T08:00:00.004-06:00

this is a nitpicky thing. nobody should get too upset about it: the word chai actully just means "tea." whenever you hear an utterance of "chai tea," you are really hearing "tea tea." most asian languages refer to all tea as just "chai" and what americans call chai tea (the spiced stuff) is actually masala chai. its just a cool word, so we should not get too pedantic.

homning

2010-02-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

Artwork by rocketpigeon.net

i used to confuse these all the time:

hone - to sharpen or get better e.g. "hone your skills"
home - get closer and closer to a target e.g. "homing missile/pigeon"

so i need to stop using the phrase "honing in"...

adversity aversion

2010-02-15T08:00:00.001-06:00

the words adverse and averse can cause confusion and are often erroneously interchanged. Both are adjectives with negative meanings, but they are not interchangeable; they are subtly differentiated by interest vs inclination:

adverse (adj) - unfavorable. used in the "against one's best interest" case. base word for adversity and adversary.
averse (adj) - having repugnance or opposition of mind. used in the "against one's personal inclinations" case. base word for aversion.

these derived words (adversity/aversion) are the best mnemonic for deciding which to use, and have cured me of my bad habit of saying things like "I am not adverse to medicine with no averse effects."

sherbe(r)t

2010-02-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

internationally, the words sherbet and sorbet are synonymous. the united states colloquially refers to something different with each term. sorbet is seen as a dessert similar to italian ice (i.e. no dairy) while sherbet is both fruity and creamy (due to minimal dairy content)

what is interesting is how (anecdotally) everyone learns that this dessert is called "sherbeRt" with an extra /r/ sound. this has become an aceptable and understandable mispronunciation, but is technically not the right name. if you are like me and only ever learned to call it sherbert, look at the package next time you are at the grocery store and it mght surprise you that they leave out that /r/.

glamorous pompadour

2010-02-08T08:00:00.002-06:00

Madame Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour preceded the footsteps of Ambrose B. Burnside, Jheri Redding, and A Flock of Seagulls in leaving an eponymous hairstyle as a legacy.

The pompadour is the poof of hair made famous by elvis and sported by many subcultures today.

This odd departure from the normal linguisteresis fare is brought on by the confusion over what the king of the cosmos is referring to when he mentions that he lost his pompadour during a knife fight in the video game we ♥ katamari (part of the katamari damacy series, which means literally "clump spirit")

[via]

semicolons can be confusing; here is a lesson ;)

2010-02-04T08:00:00.004-06:00

the oatmeal, famous for lengthy animated rants of the surreal variety such as how to use an apostrophe, has created a new lesson on a less commonly used punctuation mark: the semicolon.

the comic uses non-sequiturs to break down the uses of the semicolon, with the main reasons being:

conjoining two related sentences that could stand on their own (do not use a conjunction such as 'and' or 'but' with this use)
adding more pause than a comma but less than a period.
seperating items in a list when those items already have punction (e.g. i have lived in lakeville, mn; edina, mn; and minneapolis, mn.)

the comic neglects to mention some other uses for the symbol, such as ending a line of code in many computer programming languages or a line of a matrix in a mathematical matrix. also a winky face.

[image by theoatmeal]

well, yeah

2010-02-01T08:00:00.082-06:00

a cliché is a predictable unoriginality - when what may have been a neat idea in the past is now overdone.

the opposite of a cliché is a non-sequitur: something that has never been done before and is accomplished with a completely absurd disjointedness in relation. non-sequitur is a latin phrase literally meaning "does not follow," and is most often used with humorous intent (as a major subset of surrealist humor)

a common example of a non-sequitur is the following joke:

Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Fish.

i submit that if this joke is used too often, it will become a cliché. The logical name for this transformation would just be "sequitur" meaning "it does follow [convention]," but perhaps a better name would be "sequiché." your move, ADS.

whatever gets you here

2010-01-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

a macguffin is a plot device - something to create a plot in a story - that, itself, is left very vague or unimportant. in the words of legendary filmmaker alfred hitchcock (the word's de facto founder):

"in a thriller the MacGuffin is usually 'the necklace'; in a spy story it is 'the papers'"

it doesnt matter that the theives are planning a heist for the necklace. it could be a painting or a stash of gold - but this macguffin's importance sets the scene for every character's intentions.

recentism alert! go see avatar. there is a human/alien conflict because the humans want to mine the mineral unobtainium, a valuable substance, from the alien homeworld. the audience does not care about the details of this mineral, the only important thing is the struggle to get it.

legally binding minestrone

2010-01-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

de facto is a latin phrase for "unofficial" or "assumed" (literally "by fact"). it is used in situations to describe something that established in practice but not necessarily documented officially or legally.

example for lost fans: jack is the de facto leader of the survivors.

lesser used is the opposite of de facto, which is de jure, meaning "official" or "legal" (literally "by law"). this should not be confused with the french du jour which is pronounced the same but means, instead, "of the day" e.g. soupe du jour.

read these twice

2010-01-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

an ambigram is a word or words that can be read from more than one point of view, usually with some artistic aspect. the picture shown here says "ambigram" even when rotated 180 degrees.

There are manyvarying types ambigrams: it is an entertaining trip to just go down the side of wikipedia's page on ambigrams and see some of the uncanny visual tricks achieved. Who would have thought Paul McCartney could make his name rotatable?