Fused relative clauses with who
While exploring the history of "hippie punching", I came across this passage: One day when I was but a young boy, I was walking down the street with my dad to the hardware store. He suddenly stopped,...
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Jailers reveal code language of inmates - WISH
Jailers reveal code language of inmatesWISHBRAZIL, Ind. (WTHI) - When you were a child, you may remember using code words to keep your parents from knowing if you were doing something. Especially if it...
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Language no barrier to multimedia Jon Kabira - The Japan Times
Language no barrier to multimedia Jon KabiraThe Japan TimesApparently my parents decided to divide the language usage among themselves, so my father was speaking Japanese primarily and my mother was...
View ArticleKNAIDEL?
The Scripps National Spelling Bee, which I wrote about here, is over, and the winner is Arvind Mahankali, a New Yorker who correctly spelled the final word, knaidel (NY Times story). The word is, via...
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HackingPortuguese.com: Helpful Website for Portuguese Learners
Blog and Resources for Learning Portuguese Hacking Portuguese is a great resource made by Lauren, a self-motivated learner who shares her insight into learning Brazilian Portuguese, complete with blog...
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Linguists analyze bribe talk for Russian security agency - Russia Beyond The...
Linguists analyze bribe talk for Russian security agencyRussia Beyond The HeadlinesMaxim Krongauz, director of the Linguistics Institute at the Russian State University for the Humanities, believes...
View ArticleStargazing In Tuscany: Your Guide To An Enchanting Italian Pastime
Were it not for Italy’s rebel astronomer, Galileo Galilei, the Tuscan pastime of stargazing would perhaps not hold the historic gravity, mystery and intrigue it does today. When looking up at the night...
View ArticleLearning Japanese Kanji Individually
Japanese is unique in that it uses 4 different writing systems. 3 systems that represent just sounds (hiragana, katakana, and romaji) and one that represents both meanings and sounds (kanji). Japanese...
View ArticleLet’s celebrate Dzień Dziecka! Guess how Polish kids get excited about June...
Children’s Day is celebrated as International Children’s Day in Poland. Known as Międzynarodowy Dzień Dziecka in Polish, this special occasion is marked on June 1st every year. Since its introduction...
View ArticleBREAKING PRISCIAN'S HEAD.
I just learned a fine old expression which Brewer explains efficiently: "To break Priscian’s head (in Latin, Diminuĕre Priscia’ni cap’ut). To violate the rules of grammar. Priscian was a great...
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"I didn't realize that you were on a first-name basis."
You're talking with a friend who's in the same class as you. She's talking about your teacher, but uses his first name instead of calling him by his last name. You're surprised. I didn't realize that...
View ArticleThe Telephone Game in Translation
Here’s a silly game to entertain you: the telephone game in translation. You enter some text in English (or another language), then you watch as it gets translated back and forth between languages....
View ArticleLocalization Engineers – what do they do?
The term is used in most Translation/Localization Companies to describe a position that really encompasses a variety of roles or responsibilities. Localization engineering is one of the most critical...
View ArticleParsing entertainment headlines
Here are two entertainment news headlines that are difficult to parse without knowing in advance what they're reporting on. First up, from TIME, a headline on a May 31 piece by TV critic James...
View Article6/2/13 - mephitic
1. Foul-smelling, stinking, noisome, obnoxious to the nose. 2. Noxious, toxic, poisonous (mostly of noxious gases that also stink).
View ArticleWords in the News: Lobbying
The Independent on Sunday reports more MPs have been drawn into the cash-for-questions scandal which led Conservative MP Patrick Mercer to resign from his party. Full story >> VOCABULARY Lobbying...
View ArticleCartoon: Chinese Pirates
© Chappatte in "International Herald Tribune" BACKGROUND The United States and China have agreed to hold regular, high-level talks on how to set standards of behavior for cybersecurity and commercial...
View ArticleO que significa have an agenda?
O que significa have an agenda? Você já encontrou essa expressão por aí? Se não encontrou, aproveite esta dica para aprender. Se já encontrou e ficou sem entender o que ela quer dizer, chegou a vez de...
View ArticleWhy Is The Tornado Angry?
I was a couple of sentences into the story by Ker Than ("More Midwest Twisters: Why Is Oklahoma Tornado Vexed?", National Geographic 6/1/2013) before I figured it out:
View ArticleEditorial terrorism
Anna Staver, "Man threatens to blow up state building over misspelled sign: Suspect blames failure to detonate on misspellings in instructions", Stateman-Journal, 5/29/2013: A man brought a pressure...
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