blogging

The Funniest Words in the World?

Niall O'Donnell 15 Comments

What makes something funny? Feel free not to even try to answer that, because obviously humour, like an earthworm in a snowstorm, is hard to pin down. Some suggest it’s based on minor transgressions, the release of tension, or shedding new light on things we take for granted.  Of course, all of this depends on context and a wide number of variables, and is still going to be subjective even then. If we look at which individual words we tend to find funny though, there aren’t so many variables to consider, and we might be able to find out why they’re funny.

I’m thinking about this because researchers at the University of Warwick conducted a study of what the funniest words in the English language are. They did this by choosing a random sample of 5,000 words, and the asking 800 people to rate them for humour from 1 (unfunny) to 5 (hilarious). Here’s what they came up with, starting with the funniest:

Continue reading →

When the Robots Rise Up, what Language will they Speak?

Niall O'Donnell 13 Comments

You may have read a story about Facebook shutting down an artificial intelligence because it got too intelligent. I first came across this on my Facebook newsfeed last week, and was suspicious of it: surely if this news is as big as it seems, I’d have already heard about it. So I ignored it, dismissing it as clickbait, until I saw the same story presented in a more reasonable manner on a respectable website. So I read the article, which told a more plausible story. Apparently, Facebook had develop chatbots to negotiate over virtual items. They’d been programmed with the ability to experiment with language in order to see if this could help them to dominate the discussions.

Seemingly, one morning the researchers checked on what the chatbots were up to, only to find them chatting in apparently incomprehensibly gibberish such as:

Continue reading →

Coat of Arms (Featuring Neither a Coat nor Arms)

Niall O'Donnell 7 Comments

Today, you can get an idea of how my “creative” process works. On Saturday morning I was going for a run around the university here, NUI Galway. In order to ensure I met my modest distance target, I went down a little-used path, behind the old quadrangle.

Continue reading →

The Write Stuff

Niall O'Donnell 13 Comments

If you don’t know what to write, they say, just write. Don’t worry about what to write, just keep going. Of course, this isn’t really necessary when you’re writing for a blog. I could just not post anything. I’ve no problem taking a day off now and then. Only, at the moment, I’ve got a bit of an itch to write something. So I’m just going to write for a little bit and see where it takes me.

Continue reading →

The Versatile Blogger Award

Niall O'Donnell 12 Comments

Thank you Lise for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award! You should head to her blog Lushtivity to read her great variety of posts on books, beauty, games, and lifestyle. With all those different topics, she’s a worth winner of this award! I’m not sure how versatile I am, except perhaps in the sense that I might sometimes write about different words, or different grammar points.

Regardless, here I am, so, per the rules of the award, I’ll endeavour to think of seven interesting facts about myself:

Continue reading →

Liebster Award

Niall O'Donnell 17 Comments

I have to say a big thank you to Liz for nominating me for this lovely award. It’s a great honour, and before I say anything else, I highly recommend you check out her great blog at Do the Thing, as she recounts her experiences crossing items off her bucket list.

I believe I’ve done this before, but it’s nice to have a different style of post from my usual. Plus, this will likely be a little shorter, and I don’t have so much time to write this evening, though I do still have the itch.

Ok, the rules.

Continue reading →

Can you Trademark a Word or Phrase?

QuoteNiall O'Donnell 12 Comments

I’m surprise to find that the article I read the other daythe article I read the other day has inspired a second article by me, but here we are. Something else that interested me in the article was the fact that Michael Buffer, has become a millionaire by licensing the trademark for the phrase Let’s Get Ready to Rumble. It’s probable that you read that in your mind in a very specific voice, and that voice is Michael Buffer’s. Buffer, a boxing and wrestling ring announcer, became famous for his catchphrase, delivered in his unique style. In 1992 he registered the phrase as a trademark, and since then has earned about $400 million from it.

Continue reading →