Sunday, February 23, 2014
Language update for Feb
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Professor Polistra has a lexical oddity to explore, plus a fairly large bucket of modern wordshit.
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Lexical Oddity:
Prof P, while fully understanding that language is not meant to be logical, has always been bothered by the lack of orthogonality in some particular patterns.
Improve (used transitively) is a flagrant non-orthogonality. What's the antonym? Deprove? Exprove? Eprove? Unprove? No.
Unimproved is the opposite of improved, but only in a restricted legal context about pavements or properties. Not a general-purpose antonym.
If we look at improve as an intransitive, we have two fair but imperfect antonyms: decline and worsen. Conditions were improving / Conditions were worsening / Conditions were declining.
These fail in the transitive. I improved the car's ignition? OK. I worsened the car's ignition? No. I declined the car's ignition? Not unless the car offered its ignition to me as an award!
Worsen appears to have an antonym of its own in better as a verb, but this only works in a the context of competitions. She worsened her time in the long-jump / She bettered her time in the long-jump.
This family of words is completely dysfunctional!
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Now the usual bucket.
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Dee. Proppo. Trosk.
From BBC, always a reliable mispronouncer of Wog Words. Reporting on protests in Dnepropetrovsk:
"Here's our correspondent in Dee. Proppo. Trosk. I'm sure I've pronounced that wrong."
Yes.
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Working progress.
As in "I'm a working progress." From this clip.
An understandable hypercorrection. Probably makes more sense than the proper phrase. Reminds me: When our high school drama class was rehearsing "Raisin in the Sun", one precise and prissy girl insisted it should be "Rising in the Sun".
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In silico.
Nice parallel to in vitro / in vivo. Used by AI pseudoscientists who still mistakenly believe they can model thought processes with computers, even after 50 years of total abject failure. More billions! More billions! We can do the job if you'll just give us more billions!
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CONtribute.
Polistra noted earlier that the stress pattern of distribution has been applied to DIStribute. At that time she wondered why the same transfer of stress template hadn't happened to CONtribute.
Now it has.
BBC says: "If you want to CONtribute to Outside Source, email us at ...."
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Ensnarl.
An obnoxious unctuous sanctimonious asshole named Michael Fiore, speaking about the progress of tobacco cessation. "Unfortunately, Big Tobacco is still managing to recruit and ensnarl new addicts." Listening to this oily slimy fuckhead tempts me to take up smoking again, just for the pleasure of disobeying him.
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MIXED-GENDER MARRIED COUPLES.
When civilization has become the retronym, you know Satan's victory is complete. That is all.
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Footnote: After re-reading, I suspect time may not be the relevant variable in long-jump competitions, but I'm determined to maintain total ignorance of all Sport-related subjects. I didn't realize it was wrong as I was writing it, so it's going to stick.
= = = = =
Professor Polistra has a lexical oddity to explore, plus a fairly large bucket of modern wordshit.
= = = = =
Lexical Oddity:
Prof P, while fully understanding that language is not meant to be logical, has always been bothered by the lack of orthogonality in some particular patterns.
Improve (used transitively) is a flagrant non-orthogonality. What's the antonym? Deprove? Exprove? Eprove? Unprove? No.
Unimproved is the opposite of improved, but only in a restricted legal context about pavements or properties. Not a general-purpose antonym.
If we look at improve as an intransitive, we have two fair but imperfect antonyms: decline and worsen. Conditions were improving / Conditions were worsening / Conditions were declining.
These fail in the transitive. I improved the car's ignition? OK. I worsened the car's ignition? No. I declined the car's ignition? Not unless the car offered its ignition to me as an award!
Worsen appears to have an antonym of its own in better as a verb, but this only works in a the context of competitions. She worsened her time in the long-jump / She bettered her time in the long-jump.
This family of words is completely dysfunctional!
= = = = =
Now the usual bucket.
= = = = =
Dee. Proppo. Trosk.
From BBC, always a reliable mispronouncer of Wog Words. Reporting on protests in Dnepropetrovsk:
"Here's our correspondent in Dee. Proppo. Trosk. I'm sure I've pronounced that wrong."
Yes.
= = = = =
Working progress.
As in "I'm a working progress." From this clip.
An understandable hypercorrection. Probably makes more sense than the proper phrase. Reminds me: When our high school drama class was rehearsing "Raisin in the Sun", one precise and prissy girl insisted it should be "Rising in the Sun".
= = = = =
In silico.
Nice parallel to in vitro / in vivo. Used by AI pseudoscientists who still mistakenly believe they can model thought processes with computers, even after 50 years of total abject failure. More billions! More billions! We can do the job if you'll just give us more billions!
= = = = =
CONtribute.
Polistra noted earlier that the stress pattern of distribution has been applied to DIStribute. At that time she wondered why the same transfer of stress template hadn't happened to CONtribute.
Now it has.
BBC says: "If you want to CONtribute to Outside Source, email us at ...."
= = = = =
Ensnarl.
An obnoxious unctuous sanctimonious asshole named Michael Fiore, speaking about the progress of tobacco cessation. "Unfortunately, Big Tobacco is still managing to recruit and ensnarl new addicts." Listening to this oily slimy fuckhead tempts me to take up smoking again, just for the pleasure of disobeying him.
= = = = =
MIXED-GENDER MARRIED COUPLES.
When civilization has become the retronym, you know Satan's victory is complete. That is all.
= = = = =
Footnote: After re-reading, I suspect time may not be the relevant variable in long-jump competitions, but I'm determined to maintain total ignorance of all Sport-related subjects. I didn't realize it was wrong as I was writing it, so it's going to stick.Labels: Language update
¶ 5:01 AM
