Category Archives: Etymology & Linguistics

Croatians sure dislike chestnuts

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Sophia

(For those who don’t speak Czech: “pitomi” resembles “pitomý”, which loosely means “bone-headed”, but is often used in place of “stupid”.)

Posted in Attempts at Humor, Etymology & Linguistics, Foreign Languages, Literatures, & Translation | Leave a comment

Asperger’s syndrome and segment deletion

Posted on December 26, 2012 by Sophia

In examining the speech patterns of individuals frequently around me, I’ve noticed that those who believe they have Asperger’s – or, at least, those who note that they display behavioural patterns characteristic of the disorder – tend almost never to … Continue reading →

Posted in Etymology & Linguistics | 1 Comment

Questions regarding intonation and meaning

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Sophia

Sometime in the summer, Juensung and I had a talk about intonation and its role in verbal communication.  He asked me these questions, preliminarily: 1. So, how exactly do people manage to infuse their voice with emotions? 2. It’s been … Continue reading →

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I’ve visited many… necropoli? Necropoles? Necropoleis?

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Sophia

I may have mentioned earlier that I – like Cyril, incidentally – make a point of reading several hours of Wikipedia daily.  I recall first stumbling upon the word “necropolis” somewhere on Wiki when I was, I think, in the … Continue reading →

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Hearing yourself think

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Sophia

Audition is defined as the ability to perceive sound via an organ (i.e., the ear).  This form of sensory perception can be summarized as such: vibrations are detected by the ear, and are transduced into nerve impulses that are then … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Etymology & Linguistics | Leave a comment