Krinklewords @krinkle@polyglot.city

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

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

Which European language am I reading?

Flowchart by Max Fras and Øystein H. Brekke.

🐦️ https://twitter.com/maxfras/status/1362330663236612096

"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! ♥️

#books #aphorisms #aphorism #300arguments

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!

#todayilearned #reads #reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

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".

#english #word

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/behemoth

... 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.
_______

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

#linguistics #english

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

Word 18:

"""
peruse

(verb) to examine or consider with care; to read completely; to look over casually;
"""

Holmes while exposing an art gallery as a front organization, in Elementary:

> Holmes: Uh, do you mind if we peruse? Huge fans of the neo-deconceptualists.
> Fabiana: Sure. - Holmes: Thank you. […]
> Watson: Neo-deconceptualists? Not a thing!
> Holmes: I know, but don't tell Fabiana, it might crush her..

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peruse

#english #word #linguistics

Word 17:

"""
carry a tune (verb, idiomatic)

To sing or otherwise produce music with accurate pitch.
To sing well.
"""

The opposite (can't carry a tune) means someone can't sing a the melody very well, oft with humorous exaggeration applied. Such as in this scene, from The Time Traveler's Wife:

> Henry: I can't sing, […] not like you.
> Henry: Dad says I can't carry a tune in a wheelbarrow.
> Mom: Dad was joking. I love your voice. We both love your voice.

#english #word #linguistics