Fortnight and other old words

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like some of the violent words:
eviscerate
defenestrate
tarred and feathered
drawn and quartered.

Using them like "he eviscerated the person who damaged his car" or "she defenestrated the man who made a rude sexist remark to her" sounds so much more formal than some of the modern ways people describe such engagements.

flayed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's a deficit of interesting vocabulary in the USA due to the terrible education system. Words like "fortnight" are used throughout the English speaking world.

I was watching an idiotic British show with my mom (I think it was Absolutely Fabulous) and she pointed out how even in these lowbrow shows the vocabulary is richer than American vocabulary. For example, the two women went on a stroll, not a walk.

This is why I think most people incorrectly use the word "further" when they actually mean "farther." (Most of the time you are referring to an actual distance, for which you would use farther). I think they think saying further sounds fancier, ergo they sound smarter. When in reality they're using the wrong word...

[Anonymous]

Fortnight is still commonly used in the UK.

[Anonymous]

Can we bring back “pal around” or just pal to refer to your friend?

Also love all the mongers.

My upper elementary aged kid recently pointed to an array of something and I really wish array was more commonly used!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like some of the violent words:
eviscerate
defenestrate
tarred and feathered
drawn and quartered.

Using them like "he eviscerated the person who damaged his car" or "she defenestrated the man who made a rude sexist remark to her" sounds so much more formal than some of the modern ways people describe such engagements.

flayed

Yup, another good one!

[Anonymous]

English is so weird.

Gross can mean: 12 dozen, total before taxes, and disgusting? How is that possible?!

And don't get me started on the myriad meanings of "make up/make-up"

[Anonymous]

You guys should follow merriam webster on instagram - their posts go into words like this, and they are amazing!

[Anonymous]

Can we also talk about pronunciations? Just this week I heard Irish speakers on NPR pronounce Gaza with a nasally a in the first syllable "GAAAAH-zah" and "HBO" with a very pronounced "H" that I don't know how to write phonetically. It was super off-putting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:English is so weird.

Gross can mean: 12 dozen, total before taxes, and disgusting? How is that possible?!

And don't get me started on the myriad meanings of "make up/make-up"

Comments like this always remind me of the classic poem "The Chaos".

https://people.cs.georgetown.edu/nschneid/cosc272/f17/a1/chaos.html

Just a warning, it is long, but here is a teaser of the first verse. It's a classic and great.

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we also talk about pronunciations? Just this week I heard Irish speakers on NPR pronounce Gaza with a nasally a in the first syllable "GAAAAH-zah" and "HBO" with a very pronounced "H" that I don't know how to write phonetically. It was super off-putting.

Haych? Haych is how many British speakers will say "H".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rod, as a unit of distance. 1 rod = 5.5 yards.

My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that’s they way I likes it!

Back in the day... Our Quetico maps' portage lengths were in rods. A five hundred rods with a 75 lb canoe on your shoulders is a long way...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we also talk about pronunciations? Just this week I heard Irish speakers on NPR pronounce Gaza with a nasally a in the first syllable "GAAAAH-zah" and "HBO" with a very pronounced "H" that I don't know how to write phonetically. It was super off-putting.

Haitch

[Anonymous]

Heterosexual

[Anonymous]

Please provide an example of using alight with regard to an idea, without using the word idea, to help me work it in next week!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please provide an example of using alight with regard to an idea, without using the word idea, to help me work it in next week!

After a burst of innovation with no initial purpose, the AI initiative alighted on the TACOMA project and we now have concrete strategies in place for targeted use of AI.