Anita VP

What a whirlwind week in the world!   I feel that today many of us could use a little levity. Perhaps this is not a new joke (nor my own), but I think it merits sharing.   So, credited to Sidney Morgenbesser , I bring you this: *hehehe*   Humor is good for the soul. #AnitaVP #linguistics #funny

The curio cabinet of the internet delivers up another fun gem.   Check out Merriam-Webster’s Time Traveler site , which shows when words were first recorded as being used.   You can pick a recent year or go back a few centuries.   Really a fun look at how language is always a moving target and there are always new words.   For example, “meow” and “mango” have apparently only been around since 1582.   It’s also interesting to consider how words have changed in their usage over the years.   I texted my niece a picture of my baby, who was looking extra cute.   She responded with, “That’s so prime.”   I’m amenable to any compliments about my kid, but the first thought on my mind was “Ama…zon… Prime?”    Apparently, a modern use also means “perfect,” different than how prime was first used as an adjective in the 15 th century to meaning “first in time.”   Second children everywhere are now also allowed to feel… prime! ...

This really super article from Quartz, Tea if by sea, cha if by land: Why the world only has two words for tea , is a neat little breakdown of the etymology of the word “tea.” Let me just say this: I don’t always nerd out, but when I do, I prefer dos "chai teas". Consider this your very digestible, afternoon lesson in world history and linguistics combined into one!   Definitely worth your read.   I love knowing (and sharing) cool facts about language and its evolution over time.   Right about now, I could go for a good chai tea latte – although telling you that may be a bit redundant. *wink* #AnitaVP #lingustics #nerd #lingusiticsfun #chai #tea #chaitealatte

          Pictured: The saddest-looking, distraught baby, who has become disgruntled over his mangos. Listen to (or read) this neat bit on the etymology of some common words with negative prefixes .   Most of us are familiar with the construction of adding prefixes like dis- to the beginning of words like “agree” to make the root word negative.   That is “agree” becomes “disagree”, meaning to not   agree. But what about words like “disgruntled”?   Or “disheveled”? The apparent root of the word is not a free-standing word, like in the case of “agree”.   Although the article doesn’t nerd out this far, generally these root “words” are considered to be bound morphemes .   The development of these words is logical, despite the fact that we don’t really “gruntle” or “shevel”. In addition to the words mentioned in the article , some words following this concept that came to my mind were: -    ...

Human #1 has just turned four – and neither my husband nor I know how we hit this big milestone that fast.  Naturally, over the past couple of years there has been lots and lots of ABC talk.  We do flashcards.  I sing  The Backwards Alphabet .  We watch lots of ABC videos, etc. etc.  But let’s kick Alphabet videos up a notch, shall we?  I  stumbled across  this  phenomenal  History of the Alphabet video  and  chart  by  Matt Baker from Useful Charts .  The linguistics nerd in me is just tickled to death.  In the video, he does an awesome job of making the info easy to follow and understand. Even if you’re not a linguistics nerd, this is a very interesting comprehensive view of how the Alphabet has developed over thousands of years.  Baker even breaks down how the letter F is one of the most interesting letters – and not like that, get your minds out of the gu...