Other ridiculous feuds include one currently underway in upstate New York between vendors of children's ice cream. Seriously. Already this one, too, has led to criminal charges, although thankfully no attempted murders. I would blame it on the hyper-competitive capitalist culture of the US, except the situation resembles the genuinely deadly "Glasgow Ice Cream Wars" of the 1980s, as well as the premise of a Scottish comedy from that era called Comfort and Joy. Maybe it's best in general just to watch out for ice-cream vendors no matter what country you're in -- those guys don't mess around.
05 May 2013
America and its feuds
Further notes on the ever-changing English language
Here are a few interesting and/or amusing items I've been collecting that relate to English. First, the good news that the redundant and usually pretentious word "whom" is dying out. Unfortunately, as with most changes in language, this is probably going to take a few more decades. Meanwhile, new forms and usages are developing through slang and social media. One writer recently described how the punctuation mark "slash" has become a word people use in conversation. Another defended "texting" against critics who say it's dumbing down the language. Another discussed the origins of emoticons, offering the (to me) surprising news that not only is the "smiley-face" older than I thought, but there were suggestions already back in the 19th century for developing some way of punctuating text to express subtle emotions and effects, particularly irony. And here we have the news that "Like," the button one uses to respond to posts on Facebook and some other sites, was originally going to be called "Awesome." This writer, contrary to the one linked to above, does think that there's some kind of dumbing-down at work here.
Finally, words you can’t use legally use to name a child in New Zealand. (Contrast this with these jokes from the American comedian Louis CK, who imagines some names that Americans might give their kids because there's no such legal restriction.) And for those of you who like to sing along to pop/rock tunes in English, here's the invaluable Aarchive of Misheard Song Lyrics. Get it right! :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)