A thoughtful piece on the NakedTranslations weblog highlights a curious feature of the English language and its use of gender. Since almost all inanimate objects are considered neutral (unusually), rather than masculine or feminine, a speaker of English can demonstrate sentimental attachment to a well-loved object by giving it a grammatical gender it would otherwise [...]
Also filed in
|
|
The language log reminds us all that just because someone says “I’m sorry” it doesn’t mean they have apologised. Context and grammar are everything. Which reminds me: I’m sick of the phrase “I take full responsibility.” In days gone by that meant accepting blame and punishment. These days it seems to mean little more than, [...]
Also filed in
|
|
A weblog devoted to the use and misuse of language: Language Log.
Also filed in
|
|
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
I couldn’t agree more with what is said here.
Also filed in
|
|
Saturday, December 23, 2006
The Ampersand character is older than I realised, at least according to Wikipedia. Adobe has some further examples of how it is or was written.
Also filed in
|
|
Thursday, November 23, 2006
One of the first posts on this blog concerned attempts by French feminists and politically-correct types to alter the mode of address used for French women. Now, a Telegraph journalist is lost in problems of translation.
This tool aims to predict the gender of the writer of a passage of text. The paper on which that tool is based is also on the internet. Interestingly, the prediction is based on things such as pronouns (women use more, it seems) and preferences for particular grammatical constructs (men prefer to say ‘garden of [...]
Also filed in
|
|
I’ve always liked the aesthetics of the pilchrow. (The look of the section sign also appeals.) Until Wikipedia informed me of the correct name, I’d tended to call it the “Paragraph mark”. What I hadn’t realised, but what the good folks of Wikipedia tell me, is that it is derived not from the letter P [...]
Also filed in
|
|
Given my chosen profession, how language is used is of great interest to me. One of my favourite ‘reads’ is an excellent weblog written by a professional translator: don’t be put off by the title! Now, as any fule kno, French women enjoy two modes of address. It seems that feminism has just discovered or [...]
Also filed in
|
|