Krinklewords @krinkle@polyglot.city
- Fluent
- NL, EN, DE
- Basic
- FY (Fryslan)
- Very basic
- BD (Bangla), FR (French)
- Photo
- Nick Amoscato (CC BY 2.0). "Flying books in San Francisco"
Hi, I'm Timo, a Dutch geek in London, interested in linguistics.
This is where I talk about words, usually once or twice a week. He/him.
Joined Jun 2020
Pinned post
Word 21:
"""
behemoth
(biblical) A great and mighty beast, possibly the hippopotamus, as described in the bible.
(by extension) Any great and mighty monster.
(figuratively) Something of great power and might, or of enormous proportions. See also titan.
"""
From the Middle English "bemoth", and further from the Hebrew word for "beast".
Pinned post
Word 15:
"""
battery (noun)
The unlawful striking of a person.
A collection of heavy artillery.
A device storing energy to convert to power.
"""
Could these be related?
"battery" came from Old French, and Latin "battuo" meaning to beat or hit. (e.g. in law, assault and battery).
This Latin root also entered English as "batter" (mixture in baking), and "batterie" (apparent leg-hitting in dancing).
Next: What about that heavy artillery?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battery
#english #word #linguistics
Pinned post
Word 7:
"""
androgynous
(adjective) Possessing qualities of multiple gender stereotypes; Being neither distinctly masculine nor feminine in one's appearance, or behavior.
"""
From Portraits of an Icon, by Helen Trompeteler:
> Hepburn had a legendary style that appeared simple, achievable [and] even androgynous, […] Such qualities enabled her to push against the gender expectations of her time.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/androgynous
https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20150703-audrey-hepburn-an-icon-who-knew-the-horrors-of-war
#english #word #linguistics
Pinned post
Watch us evolve as we fill important language gaps, recognise issues, and innovate ourselves:
1965: dork, mockumentary, beta-blocker
1975: person-hour, string cheese, GPS
1985: bi-curious, "N-word", microbrew
1995: genderqueer, misgender, wiki
2000: carbon footprint, overshare, blogosphere
2005: manscaping, net neutrality, flash mob, microblogging
2010: dumpster fire, mansplain, crowdsourcing, makerspace
2015: aphantasia, deadname, hard pass, ASMR
#linguistics #english https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2015
Krinklewords
boosted
what my girlfriend thought dating a software engineer would be like: "honey, I got an AI robot maid to do all our cooking for us"
what dating a software engineer is actually like: "if that microwave connects to the internet we're heating all our food with a blowtorch from now on"
Krinklewords
boosted
reticulation
Pronunciation /rɪˌtɪkjʊˈleɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
1 mass noun A pattern or arrangement of interlacing lines resembling a net.
1.1 Photography The formation of a network of wrinkles or cracks in a photographic emulsion.
2 Australian, New Zealand A network of pipes used in irrigation and water supply.
==========
It was with great elation
That they began their celebration.
But since they were meeting online by network
It was just, in a sense, reticulation.
Krinklewords
boosted
joke question: what is the opposite of headphone?
*extremely finnish voice* persephone
Krinklewords
boosted
🌍 Map of the Internet
An epic work of art by Martin Vargic, featuring over a thousand websites on a fictional map, organised by topic and sized for traffic scale (logarithmic). Some regions to look for:
* Protocol Ocean.
* Gulf of Linkrot.
* Viral Valey.
* Sea of Netizens.
* Append: Major launch dates.
* Append: Broadband speeds by country.
* Append: Most expensive domain sales.
Full size graphic (19 MB) at https://www.halcyonmaps.com/map-of-the-internet-2021
#map #maps #geek #kottke via https://kottke.org/21/05/a-map-of-the-internet-2021
"Tower of Babel", web comic by XKCD.
https://xkcd.com/2421/
https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2421:_Tower_of_Babel #xkcd #webcomic #linguistics
Word 22:
"""
vestigial (adj.)
of a remnant structure with little or no utility, of a preceding generation.
(in biology) underdeveloped in a mature animal.
From the Latin vestīgium, meaning a footprint or faint trace of something once there.
"""
Did you know giraffes have a nerve many meters long down *and* back up their neck to the voicebox? It's entangled with lower organs as in other mammals — which is hard to change through evolution.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vestigial #english #word #linguistics
"""
The trouble with comparing yourself to others, is that there too many others.
Using 'all others' as your control group, all of your worst fears and fondest hopes are at once true. You're good, you're bad. You're abnormal, you're like everyone else.
"""
From 300 Arguments, by Manguso.
You're wonderful just the way you are! ♥️
Krinklewords
boosted
I miss the bygone era of very internety things, geocities-style scavenger hunts, easter eggs. So, I made thing. Hope you like it!
https://treasure21.timotijhof.net/
#scavengerhunt #easteregg #eastereggs #textadventure #treasurehunt #nostalgia #geocities #geek
help pinpoint local US accent
I long enjoyed video presentations by Bill Hammack (" engineerguy" on YouTube) who, to me, has a very distinct voice and unique timing and accentuating of words.
Until today, I hadn't heard others with a similar voice or accent. That changed when I saw this funny video from Minneapolis Parks.
I couldn't find an obvious city or state link, but perhaps someone here recognises it?
Minneapolis Parks video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7z2b3Hc7y4&t=50s
Bill Hammack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUhisi2FBuw
I love reading about examples of survivorship bias. It's such a nice blend of intuition, counter-intuition, and round about cleverness!
Word 21:
"""
behemoth
(biblical) A great and mighty beast, possibly the hippopotamus, as described in the bible.
(by extension) Any great and mighty monster.
(figuratively) Something of great power and might, or of enormous proportions. See also titan.
"""
From the Middle English "bemoth", and further from the Hebrew word for "beast".
the light at the end of the tunnel
... is an oncoming train.
#plottwist #humor H/T @liw
_______
♥️ Don't give up hope!
Not everything is what
it seems. Whether better,
worse, or something new.
_______
reminds me of the powerful "Run, Forrest, Run!" scene in Forrest Gump.
No, not the funny (second) use the phrase when he's grown up and runs swiftly through a nice wide-angle shot (a very memeable 2s capture).
I mean the first instance of it, where the kid passes a dramatic turning point in their life and overcomes their limitations – both physically, and emotionally.
This is the Zemeckis direction I love, as also seen in Back to the Future, and Polar Express.
Word 20:
"""
skedaddle (intransitive verb)
: to depart hurriedly, to run away quickly, to scram
: to flee in a panic
"""
Probably from 19th century British "scathel" (harmful, wild) possibly of Ancient Greek origin through "σκέδασις" (skédasis, meaning to scatter).
Synonyms include:
💥 "blow this popsicle stand" (US), and
💨 "do a bunk" (British).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skedaddle
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:flee
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blow_this_popsicle_stand
Word 19:
"""
jettison (verb)
to drop or cast overboard, as cargo from a moving ship or aircraft.
to discard something that is unwanted or superfluous.
"""
From the Old Franch "jeter" (to throw), likely from the Latin "jectāre" -> "iacto" (throw or cast out an object, throw out words, utter, boast).
This also entered the English language as "conjecture" (a likely but unproven statement, a guess) from the Latin "con jectāre" (throw together).
#linguistics #english https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jettison
The correct answer, according to Merriam-Webster, is:
... 2003! (SARS)
This certainly surprised me when I saw it, and it appears only two of you (7% of 30) guessed this. The majority of you, like me, appear to have only first heard the phrase this past year.
Thanks for playing 🙂
https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2003
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20distancing
When do you think "social distancing", as an English phrase, was first used?
#linguistics #english #covid #covid19
Watch us evolve as we fill important language gaps, recognise issues, and innovate ourselves:
1965: dork, mockumentary, beta-blocker
1975: person-hour, string cheese, GPS
1985: bi-curious, "N-word", microbrew
1995: genderqueer, misgender, wiki
2000: carbon footprint, overshare, blogosphere
2005: manscaping, net neutrality, flash mob, microblogging
2010: dumpster fire, mansplain, crowdsourcing, makerspace
2015: aphantasia, deadname, hard pass, ASMR
#linguistics #english https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2015
Watch society collapse, through the lens of Merriam-Webster's Time Traveler:
by 1965: remote access.
by 1975: mobile phone, string cheese, kneecapping.
by 1985: boy band, crack house, adware.
by 1995: auto-tune, page view, click-through, anti-spam.
by 2000: K-pop, climate change denial, deep state.
by 2005: selfie, sexting, ransomware, truther, unfriend.
by 2010: Instagram, filter bubble, subtweet, fat-shame, anti-vaxxer.
#linguistics #english https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/2010
"peruse" is contranym, one of those rare words that has skewed over time to have two opposing meanings:
1. to study carefully, or read completely.
2. to browse, skim, or glance over.
A similar shift ocurred with the word "scan", which means these two words make a synonym pair, including along their contradictory axis. 🤯
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peruse
#english #word #linguistics
- Fluent
- NL, EN, DE
- Basic
- FY (Fryslan)
- Very basic
- BD (Bangla), FR (French)
- Photo
- Nick Amoscato (CC BY 2.0). "Flying books in San Francisco"
Hi, I'm Timo, a Dutch geek in London, interested in linguistics.
This is where I talk about words, usually once or twice a week. He/him.
Joined Jun 2020
Krinklewords's choices:
