A response to the daily prompt: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/unstoppable/
As anyone who’s had to learn English knows, it can be a frustrating, illogical language at times. It can be hard to find hard and fast rules, and when there are rules, there are always exceptions.
The word unstoppable though, is a nice example of how sometimes thinking logically about English makes sense. Continue reading
Why do the inhabitants of some nations refer to the country as Motherland, and some Fatherland? The answer is a little complicated, unsurprisingly.
The use of both terms became most common in works of propaganda during World War II. This is particularly evident in the cases of The Soviet Union and Germany. Many Soviet propaganda posters of the time feature the phrase za rodinu! (For the Motherland!). Rodina, the Russian word for homeland, is a feminine noun, and many related words with the stem rod are associated with motherhood, fertility and procreation, so it perhaps makes sense that Russians would conceive of Mother Russia. Continue reading
I think everyone has little things that people say or write that drive them crazy. Things that are strictly incorrect, like I could care less, I should of known better, or I’ve went there a lot. I try not to get annoyed by such things, but there’s one that always bugs me: thought instead of taught. Continue reading
Acoustic adaptation is a theory in naturalism which suggests that the sounds animals make adapt to their environment: either as a result of their physical environment, or other sounds around them. You can notice that in cities, for examples, were birds will often seem to mimic the man-made sounds they hear every day. Recently though, some linguists have suggested that human languages undergo a similar process of adaptation.
Though this theory have yet to be conclusively proven, there are some intriguing ideas behind it. The main principle believed to affect the sound of a language is the frequency sound waves can travel at in a particular environment. For example, consonants don’t travel well in areas of dense vegetation such as rainforests, and therefore languages which developed in such landscapes are light on consonants and feature long vowel sounds with lots shifts in tone. Continue reading
You might have noticed that I haven’t been so active in the last few days. Well, not to worry (I assume you’ve been worrying): I’ve just been a little busy. As I work in an English-language school, this is always the busiest time of the year. People always get surprised at that. They assume that because we’re a school, we have the same schedule as state schools, and have generous summer holidays, and mid-term breaks to relieve some of the monotony that sets in after a few months of work. Yet alas, that’s not the case (we only close for 2 weeks at Christmas), and as most normal people are enjoying their holidays, my colleagues and I are working harder than at any time of the year.
And there’s a lot of work involved in a language school. Taking bookings, processing payments, arranging transportation and accommodation, hiring and training teachers, planning and booking activities, testing and placing students, dealing with their issues about classes, books, their level, accommodation, personal problems…well, there’s a lot to it. And in July and August we’re doing it for much larger numbers of students, which in the summer includes individual adults and teenagers, big groups of teenagers, and families. I’m not complaining though: I thrive on the pressure and think that it pushes me to work at my best. Continue reading
I’m a bit busy again today, so just popping my head in!
Quick is an interesting word: its most obvious meaning is fast, but some may not be aware that it also used to mean alive. When one considers that it came from the old English cwic, meaning alert or animated, one can see how it could branch out from there to mean either fast or alive.
One of the most common phrases that still uses the old meaning of the word is the quick and the dead. It originally comes from the Bible: Continue reading
With this being the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, the latest film opening tomorrow, and every episode of every series now on Netflix (The Next Generation Season 2 Episode 16, Q Who? is currently playing in another tab), I thought it time to share some thoughts on this venerable cultural institution.
I love Star Trek, and even if across all six series and thirteen movies, the quality can vary, I’ll always love the idea of Star Trek. I was always aware of the classic series and its films as a child, but I only got to watch Star Trek when The Next Generation started on TV (Saturday nights on Network 2, though I’m sure it started on Irish television later than its 1987 debut, as I wouldn’t have such a strong memory of it if I had been four when it started). Though I was always fascinated by science-fiction and fantasy, I think I as a little daunted by Star Trek as it seemed so grown-up. As a child my older brother was always more of a fan and I clung to his coattails a little: fascinated by the idea of a ship flying around space and having adventures, but also a little put off by how serious it all seemed to be. It was only in my teens that I began to really appreciate it. Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 