Bits and Pieces » Language

You can speak Italian

Jonco — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:12:44 +0000

Backwards Talking Girl

Jonco — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:29:59 +0000

Alyssa, from Oklahoma, can take any word she hears and say it backwards. She appeared on the Today Show yesterday.

She says that when she hears a word she sees it spelled out in her head forwards and backwards. She said when she learned to read she learned both ways so she’s always been able to do this.

Thanks Mike F

The B word

Jonco — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:05:43 +0000

Thanks sg

Word As Image

Jonco — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:46:23 +0000

Challenge: Create an image out of a word, using only the letters in the word itself.

Rule: Use only the graphic elements of the letters without adding outside parts.

via+

Grammar Matters

Jonco — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:20:58 +0000

via

A Language Tongue Twister

Jonco — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:05:23 +0000

Read it out loud.

“Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.”

via+

I speak 3 languages…

Jonco — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:44:14 +0000

Thanks Cousin Phyllis

Words we still use that now make no sense

Jonco — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:34:47 +0000

Writer Ken Levine wrote a piece on words and expressions we use in everyday speech that have since outlived their meaning but we still use anyway. Here are a few examples.

The tube
Phone “lines”
“Dial “ a phone
“Don’t touch that dial”
Kodak Moments
Pen Pals
Records
Please be kind “Rewind”
“Hang up” on someone
I’m going to “film” my kid’s birthday party
I’m going to “tape” Two and a Half Men
Tomorrow’s weather will be a “carbon copy” of today’s
You sound like a “broken record”
“Roll down” the car window (I know there are still a few)

Read the article

via

10 Words in English that don’t exist…but should

Jonco — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:48:37 +0000

1. AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks’trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub tap on and off with your toes.

2. CARPERPETUATION (kar’pur pet u a shun) n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.

3. DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt’) v. To sterilize the piece of confection (lolly) you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow ‘remove’ all the germs.

4. ELBONICS (el bon’iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater.

5. FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.

6. LACTOMANGULATION (lak’ to man gyu lay’ shun) n. Manhandling the “open here” spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the ‘illegal’ side.

7. PEPPIER (peph ee ay’) n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want fresh ground pepper.

8. PHONESIA (fo nee’ zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.

9. PUPKUS (pup’kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.

10. TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay’ shun) n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you’re only six inches away.

Thanks Gene

UP

Jonco — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:54:28 +0000

This two-letter word in English has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is ‘UP‘. It is listed in the dictionary as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It’s easy to understand UP , meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP , and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car.

At other times, this little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. If you argue, you can kiss and make UP.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is blocked UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look UP the word UP in the dictionary.. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP . When it rains, it soaks UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP . One could go on and on, but I’ll wrap it UP , for now . . . my time is UP !

Oh . . . one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night?

U
P !

Thanks Denny