Search found 887 matches
- Tue Nov 21, 2023 2:32 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: What if a smartphone somehow ended up in 1940?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 1328
Re: What if a smartphone somehow ended up in 1940?
Sorry but I can't read this without thinking of the episode of Doctor Who where they end up helping Churchill, and Amelia Pond is wearing a short skirt which somehow nobody takes any notice of at all.
- Tue Nov 21, 2023 3:25 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The Computer And General Tech Thread - Software, Hardware, Questions, etc.
- Replies: 557
- Views: 271820
- Sun Nov 19, 2023 2:01 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Random Thread
- Replies: 3734
- Views: 453045
Re: Random Thread
But English is a long way from Arabic - Every Arabic word has a basic meaning, a second meaning which is the exact opposite of the first, a third meaning which refers to either a camel or horse, and a fourth meaning that is so obscene that you'll have to look it up for yourself. This is not too far...
- Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:52 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019813
Re: British Politics Guide
To quote someone else: "Yesterday's Man for Tomorrow's Future!".
- Fri Nov 10, 2023 4:46 am
- Forum: Almea
- Topic: Almeomusica
- Replies: 142
- Views: 11642846
- Wed Nov 08, 2023 5:00 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Language change in real time
- Replies: 34
- Views: 8946
Re: Language change in real time
Obstruent consonants: an endangered species?
- Sat Nov 04, 2023 5:14 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Great Unsolved Mysteries of Lingustic Terminology #416
- Replies: 5
- Views: 1276
Great Unsolved Mysteries of Lingustic Terminology #416
Why is it called "reduplication", which implies three or four of something, and not just "duplication", which implies two, when the vast majority of instances of it involve something being (more or less) doubled? We must be told!
- Tue Oct 24, 2023 4:20 am
- Forum: Almea
- Topic: My Present Project
- Replies: 50
- Views: 21791
- Tue Oct 17, 2023 2:11 pm
- Forum: Conlangery
- Topic: Conlang Random Thread
- Replies: 3024
- Views: 2852891
Re: Conlang Random Thread
And that's why I have great difficulty coming up with case endings. I have a lot of morphological, phonological, and aesthetic constraints. I know what you mean. It often feels like 90% of the problems in my conlangs arise from having such finicky requirements in those areas. Me too, plus a good de...
- Sun Oct 15, 2023 4:34 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: On the frequency of personal names
- Replies: 21
- Views: 23371
On the frequency of personal names
I recently found myself wondering: "historically, in a group of N people of the same birth gender from the same geographical area, how many shared their first names?". After a bit of searching I found this , which contains the rather remarkable statistic that in England and Wales around 18...
- Thu Oct 12, 2023 4:09 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: "Bardcore" cover versions
- Replies: 2
- Views: 465
"Bardcore" cover versions
Here's Kate Bush's "Running up that Hill" in Early Middle English which some of you might enjoy. There are some other interesting covers there, too, such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in mediaeval Latin.
- Tue Oct 10, 2023 2:25 pm
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Acronyms in non-suffixing languages
- Replies: 34
- Views: 5789
Re: Acronyms in non-suffixing languages
OK, "Semitic" was a stupid example . Please disregard it.
- Tue Oct 10, 2023 5:47 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The Speculative Fiction Thread formerly Fantasy Thread
- Replies: 176
- Views: 459182
Re: The Speculative Fiction Thread formerly Fantasy Thread
Here's a version you may not have seen; I don't know if it qualifies as "fantasy" or not.
- Tue Oct 10, 2023 5:43 am
- Forum: Languages
- Topic: Acronyms in non-suffixing languages
- Replies: 34
- Views: 5789
Acronyms in non-suffixing languages
I was wondering how languages without suffixing morphology, such as the Bantu and Semitic languages, form acronyms, if at all, given that there are only a limited number of initial consonants. Does anybody know?
- Sun Oct 08, 2023 4:13 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: British Politics Guide
- Replies: 1936
- Views: 1019813
Re: British Politics Guide
Bear in mind that he has to avoid offending the most important people in any election campaign: the owners of the right-wing newspapers.
- Sat Oct 07, 2023 4:39 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1470
Re: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
On the other hand, I'm sure you recall xkcd's warning about standards . Oh yes; I remember it very well from the time when I asked about harmonising the syntax of SCAs.. But I'm not trying to create a standard here, just wondering if there already is one, or anything like it. The answer seems to be...
- Fri Oct 06, 2023 3:07 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1470
Re: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
Most IPA letters are variants of Latin letters, and could be ordered immediately following the basic Latin letters they are derived from. IPA letters which cannot easily be reduced to Latin letters that way, such as the glottal stop, may be placed at the end of the alphabet. This is what Pullum and...
- Fri Oct 06, 2023 5:44 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1470
Re: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
I was thinking in general terms, not for a particular language. Unicode order isn't helpful, as WeepingElf points out, since it would be nice to have, for example, <ɛ> after <e> and before <f>. I know it's not that difficult to come up with such an ordering. The Phonetic Symbol Guide by Pullum and t...
- Thu Oct 05, 2023 3:08 pm
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: Standard ordering of IPA characters?
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1470
Standard ordering of IPA characters?
Is there actually such a thing, which (to pick a totally random example of the top of my head) one might pass an argument to a string comparison function such as one would use in a sort? My researches so far seem to suggest "no", but perhaps one of you knows better.
- Wed Oct 04, 2023 4:38 am
- Forum: Ephemera
- Topic: The declining quality of our supply of extremely rich people - a rant
- Replies: 61
- Views: 3597
Re: The declining quality of our supply of extremely rich people - a rant
Marxists have been predicting the collapse of communism for 175 years; with that track record, one should, as the Bayesians say, examine one's priors. You do mean "capitalism", of course? :D Yep. They look about the same on the page. :P And thus is Horseshoe Theory vindicated.