The term "fan" to mean avid supporter only came into popular use in the 19th century. Before that, words like "kranks," "habitués" and "lions" were used. There were even equivalents of today's fandoms that focus on a specific performer (like Swifties and Cumberbitches) in the form of Lisztians, who loved the composer Franz Liszt. Atlas Obscura spoke with Daniel Cavicchi, an American Studies scholar, about the history of fans and the words we've used to describe them. “How you name yourself says a lot about what you think of yourself and your very intense passions,” Cavicchi says. “But at the same time, another name or variation on the name, or another use of your name, maybe in a derogatory sense, may say something about what the culture thinks about you.”
I've spoken with hundreds of learners over the past few years, and over 80% start learning Hebrew with Duolingo. Every single person reports that despite months of effort, they are unable to form even a basic Hebrew sentence! Sound familiar?
I understand the appeal—Duolingo is accessible, budget-friendly, and feels like a game. But let's talk about the real cost when you expect these apps to teach you Hebrew: You're investing your most precious resources! Your time, motivation, and hope in a learning tool that - in all my discussions -
Not one student has said, “Thanks to Duolingo, I'm now speaking Hebrew”, or “I understand Hebrew because of Duolingo”. Not a single person, and I've talked to so many...
🌟 Ready to speak and understand Hebrew? Comment “SPEAK” and start this journey that will transform your Hebrew forever.
TIL of the word Hypocorism. It describes the use of pet names for people. Sometimes derived from their actual names, such as Tobes from Toby, and sometimes not. I learned this from Geek Girl show. I don’t recall it from the books, but it may be in them.
Yayy, the Universe understands me! I stated in my bio that it's my goal to make squirrel communication a language right? I'm also a feral cat lady, and in the library this was the first thing near the door. I will gladly take on making cat communication a language too. I love joking and pulling pranks, so can't wait to cat it up. Wish me luck! #caturday#fun#cats#language
It's dragonlanging day again! We are going to return to the writing system now. We have some more consonant symbols to create, then some work to do on how to handle consonant clusters before we can fully wrap Ndăkaga.
How the Brain Processes Different Components of Language - Moving beyond neural localization of language. Posted May 28, 2024
"...This is in line with recent ideas about a "cortical mosaic" architecture for linguistic structure within overlapping portions of posterior temporal and inferior frontal cortices for processing demands that bias syntactic and semantic computations, whereby, for example, effects of composition can be found within a narrow strip of tissue within the broader lexicality-sensitive cortical sites (a spatial mosaic), or where different demands of sentence-level inferential semantics can be detected over closely overlapping temporal windows within a small area of cortex (a spatiotemporal mosaic)..."
The letter 'T' continues to disappear. Language is evolving before our ears.
Just hearing an #NPR news reader now talking about the verdict released yesterday in "Manha - un" and then she moved on to an update on the "Affordable Care ack."
This must've been what it was like living through the "Great Vowel Shift" in the English language during the 15th/16th century.
Of course, their Internet radio channel selection was much poorer back then.
A beluga can change the shape of its "melon" (the bulbous mass on its head) at will. Could this be used as a form of communication? A new study indicates that it might. Here's a story from @hakaimagazine with a six-panel comic illustrating the five different melon shapes and in what contexts some are used.
Why Do Dwarves Sound Scottish and Elves Sound Like Royalty?
Blame Tolkien and time - by Eric Grundhauser December 7, 2016
"...Tolkien would create languages first, then write cultures & histories to speak them... In the case of the ever-present Elvish in his works, Tolkien took inspiration from Finnish and Welsh. As the race of men & hobbits got their language from the elves in Tolkien’s universe, their language was portrayed as similarly Euro-centric in flavor.
For the dwarves, who were meant to have evolved from an entirely separate lineage, he took inspiration from Semitic languages for their speech, resulting in dwarven place names like Khazad-dûm & Moria.
“When dwarves actually talk, they don’t sound Scottish at all,” says Olsen. “They sound like Arabic or Hebrew.”...As radio & film adaptations of Tolkien’s works were released in later decades, you can see the slow evolution of the dwarven accent..."