Zompist Bboard Again

Man in Space wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2026 2:56 am

Lērisama wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2026 1:46 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2026 4:09 pm

What's this thing with Anglophones always talking about getting high during dentistry? I never got a stronger reaction than my mouth turning numb from anything I got at the dentist's.

I'm an anglophone and I don't get it either.

It must be the interdentals in English. Rare cross-linguistically, so they must provide some advantage to those that do use them…

alice wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2026 2:40 pm I'm not sure that Musk now being a trillionaire actually means that he can to go into a widget shop and buy a trillion widgets at $1 each, even assuming he already has the space to store them.

Man in Space wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2026 12:35 pm I’ve been informed that the torch has been thrown to the sharks. (Well, shark singular.)

jal wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2026 3:42 am

alice wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2026 2:16 pm Manager = person
Coach = vehicle

Football coach.



JAL

Raphael wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2026 3:54 am

jal wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2026 3:42 amFootball coach.

Beat me to it! I was coming here to post that.

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 7:52 am Not interested in reading Chomsky. He's made a professional career out of spending more than half a century talking nonsense about linguistics, while, at the same time, becoming more famous among the general public for his hobby of talking nonsense about politics.

bradrn wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 7:54 am A wonderfully withering assessment:

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 7:52 am Not interested in reading Chomsky. He's made a professional career out of spending more than half a century talking nonsense about linguistics, while, at the same time, becoming more famous among the general public for his hobby of talking nonsense about politics.

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 8:31 am Chomsky's main contribution to linguistics seems to have been the whole language organ thing, which is neurologically and genetically extremely implausible.

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 8:31 am the whole language organ thing, which is neurologically and genetically extremely implausible.

Chomsky's main contribution to linguistics seems to have been the whole language organ thing

zompist wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 4:18 pm

Raphael wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2026 8:31 am the whole language organ thing, which is neurologically and genetically extremely implausible.

This part is true. But this:

Chomsky's main contribution to linguistics seems to have been the whole language organ thing

is nonsense.

Yes, he was big on the language organ. It's completely irrelevant to his actual linguistic theories.

Maybe I should say true-ish. A "language organ" is not a bad supposition at all, and there is evidence to support it: e.g. the wide variety of complex innate behaviors seen in the animal kingdom, the fact that babies universally pay attention to and imitate speech, and the fact that people with linguistic defects due to brain damage cannot simply replace it with general cognitive function.

However, it's just a supposition, and has to compete with the idea that our brains are good enough to acquire complex skills without dedicated brain organs. Reading or playing the violin, for instance.

There is zero evidence that the language organ supports Chomsky's linguistic theories in particular. Nor do they need any support in that direction.

alice wrote: ↑Sun Jun 21, 2026 2:15 pm "Summer Solstice" and "FIlm Noir" are a reference to global warming and the impending heatwave, "Labour Party" is something to do with celebrating work, I think, or celebrating by working.

Man in Space wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2026 1:13 pm In college I was given to using Arabic letters for variables at times.

bradrn wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2026 2:17 pm
But did anyone understand you?

Man in Space wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2026 4:03 pm No one ever complained.

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2026 4:30 am for instance, the feminine adjectives mutated because feminine nuns once ended in a vowel

bradrn wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2026 5:06 am

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2026 4:30 am for instance, the feminine adjectives mutated because feminine nuns once ended in a vowel

Obviously a typo for feminine nouns, but I found this too funny not to preserve…

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2026 6:35 am

bradrn wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2026 5:06 am

WeepingElf wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2026 4:30 am for instance, the feminine adjectives mutated because feminine nuns once ended in a vowel

Obviously a typo for feminine nouns, but I found this too funny not to preserve…

No, not a typo. The mutation happened on the adjective following the noun.