LANGUAGE: It’s enslaved persons, not “slaves”. We are people who were ENslaved. When you say “enslaved”, you make clear that someone else did this to us. When you say “slave” you speak the language and mindset of the people who did this to us. This is important. It is not semantics. #history#language#enslavedpeople#Black#Mastodon#words
I've just come across the Old English compound word "hord-wynn" (hoard-joy), which refers to treasure that delights.
That's how I'm going to be thinking of my library from now on 🥰 📚 #Life#Books#Words#Etymology
Saw another list of "untranslatables" with the usual suspects (schadenfreude, hygge…). Couple of things:
—Funny how lists of untranslatable words always supply translations. The words usually just don't have precise, one-word translations—esp if they're culturally very specific
—Except sometimes they do. Schadenfreude has a little-known English equivalent, epicaricacy, borrowed from Greek & listed in some English dictionaries since the mid-18C
Comedian Rich Hall gave us the sniglet -- defined as (remember?) any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should. Seeking to name the nameless things and behaviors we witness every day . . . .
NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter’s Moon Europa
The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth’s oceans combined. A triangular metal plate on the spacecraft will honor that connection to Earth in several ways.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year is "authentic." The team who made the choice say that this year it saw a substantial increase in lookups, thanks to conversations around AI and celebrity culture. There were several other words that generated buzz in 2023. Which of the following didn't make the list?
English has many rare wintry words, according to Merriam-Webster, and we're lobbying for the revival of them. For Friday fun, can you work out which of these means "the warmth of the sun in winter?" Tell us your favorite unusual words and phrases in the comments.
If you're trying to avoid awkward moments around the Thanksgiving table, Merriam-Webster has some controversy-free conversation starters, like the origins of terms such as gravy train and easy as pie. Just for fun, see if you and your loved ones can figure out the meaning of the word "deipnosophist"
Happy #ValentinesDay! It’s time for us to ruin the mood, as we do every year, by posting our video about the word “Cuckold”, and how it connects to Valentine’s Day (via Chaucer) https://youtu.be/uk6gsB0Iijc
Learning #languages: I often have favourite #words because they hit something in my brain better than in my mother tongue.
I do love the expression of the #rabbitHole. I imagine walking down to a hole in a meadow of wild flowers. Inside it's cosy and warm, and looks very much like in a Beatrix Potter book. The rabbit family visits all the other animals and flowers with me and I discover something new around every corner. Rabbit holes are entries to wonder worlds. 😊 #languageLearning#English
Remember Sniglets? List Of Words That Should Have Been In The Dictionary (groovyhistory.com)
Comedian Rich Hall gave us the sniglet -- defined as (remember?) any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should. Seeking to name the nameless things and behaviors we witness every day . . . .