Writing Exchange

𝔸𝕟𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤 🔉<a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/GeoffreyChaucer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GeoffreyChaucer</a> fans, <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/medievalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#medievalists</a> , <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> and <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/linguists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#linguists</a>Around 10 years ago, a Geoffrey Chaucer parody account on ye olde Twitter (Chaucer Doth Tweet) promoted “Whan That Aprille Day” on April 1st (but it perhaps should be 17th?)“On the first daye of Aprille, lat us make tyme to take joye yn alle langages that are yclept ‘old,’ or ‘middel,’ or ‘auncient,’ or ‘archaic,’ or, alas, even ‘dead.’ ...Yn thys celebracioun we shal reade of oold bokes yn sondrye oold tonges. We shal singe olde songes. We shal playe olde playes. Eny oold tonge will do, and eny maner of readinge. All are welcome. We shal make merrye yn the magical dreamscape of 'social media,' and eke, yf ye kan do yt, yn the 'real worlde' too. ... ”<a href="https://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2015/03/maken-melodye-on-whan-that-aprille-day.html?m=1" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://houseoffame.blogspot.com/2015/03/maken-melodye-on-whan-that-aprille-day.html?m=1</a><a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/WhanThatAprilleDay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WhanThatAprilleDay</a> 2025 anyone?<a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#linguistics</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/medieval" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#medieval</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#language</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/classics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#classics</a>

JdeBP<a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/@FourT4" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@FourT4</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/@robpumphrey" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@robpumphrey</a> The earliest that I found with a 30 second Google Books trawl was 1882, in a book by Frank Hugh Foster.The title of the book?"The Doctrine of the Transcendent Use of the Principle of Causality in Kant, Herbart and Lotze."Ah, Kant.So you can guess why it used "in and of itself". The whole sentence was "Yet it is what it is in and of itself, as every other principle or thing is."So a double-word score for managing to have "it is what it is" in the sentence as well.Later on the same page: "Similarly, it is true of the passive power, that it is as passive the same, and not the same with itself."Philosophers and theologians: giving LLMs a run for their money for nigh on 3 millennia.And the LLMs are almost certainly trained on this stuff. Frank Hugh Foster is out of copyright. There's a happy thought for the day.<a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/philosophy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#philosophy</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AI</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/LLM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LLM</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/Scrabble" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Scrabble</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/bafflegab" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bafflegab</a> <a href="https://mastodonapp.uk/tags/theology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#theology</a>

AnonaxSometimes I learn something about the English language that makes me irrationally upset.<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trapezoid" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trapezoid</a>So in US/CA English, a trapezoid is a quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides, and a trapezium is a quadrilateral with no parallel sides. But in UK/AU/NZ English, a trapezoid is a quadrilateral with no parallel sides, and a trapezium is a quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides.How does this even happen? And in the (probably common for somebody, although not me) case that someone needs to discuss quadrilaterals, how are they supposed to make it clear what they're talking about?<a href="https://defcon.social/tags/English" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#English</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/math" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#math</a> <a href="https://defcon.social/tags/maths" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#maths</a>

Eugene Alvin Villar 🇵🇭<a href="https://en.osm.town/tags/TIL" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#TIL</a> that the two forms of the indefinite article, ‘a’ and ‘an’, which are used depending on whether the succeeding noun starts with a vowel sound, also happens with the definite article, ‘the’, via differing pronunciations.“the start“ → /ðəstɑɹt/ “the end” → /ðijɛnd/<a href="https://en.osm.town/tags/linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#linguistics</a> <a href="https://en.osm.town/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

Sylke’s home cookingI don’t know who created this graphic and can’t give credit but I find it very interesting as my beloved topics of cooking and linguistics intermingle here, so I had to post it. I always find it interesting how loan words start to change in meaning in their new language environments. The underlying etymology can be found here: <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/katsu" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/katsu</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.eu/discover/tags/katsu?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#katsu</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.eu/discover/tags/KatsuCurry?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#KatsuCurry</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.eu/discover/tags/linguistics?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#linguistics</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.eu/discover/tags/loanword?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#loanword</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.eu/discover/tags/JapaneseLanguage?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#JapaneseLanguage</a> <a href="https://pixelfed.eu/discover/tags/EnglishLanguage?src=hash" class="u-url hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

Tim_Eagon<a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=PCE4C9GvqI0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=PCE4C9GvqI0</a><a href="https://dice.camp/tags/Linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Linguistics</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/YouTube" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#YouTube</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/RobWords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#RobWords</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/GermanicLanguages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#GermanicLanguages</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

Bytes Europe‘Serving Kant’ no more: Malta’s Eurovision entry faces censorship over ‘C-word’ controversy <a href="https://www.byteseu.com/806660/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.byteseu.com/806660/</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EBU" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EBU</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/EurovisionSongContest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EurovisionSongContest</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/Languages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Languages</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/Malta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Malta</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/music" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#music</a> <a href="https://pubeurope.com/tags/PopMusic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#PopMusic</a>

JdeBP<a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@weekend_editor" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@weekend_editor</a> <a href="https://types.pl/@flippac" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@flippac</a> <a href="https://wandering.shop/@cstross" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@cstross</a> Everyone knows that, per "television", one has to mix languages with wild abandon for a word to catch on.So … what is an appropriate Punjabi word?<a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mastodon.scot/tags/phobias" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#phobias</a>

CreebhillsTrump to order English as official US language: President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order today designating English as the official language of the United States, a first in the nation’s nearly 250-year history. This order rescinds former President Bill Clinton’s mandate that federally funded agencies provide language assistance to non-English speakers. Going forward, agencies will have… <a href="https://creebhills.com/2025/03/trump-to-order-english-as-official-us-language?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://creebhills.com/2025/03/trump-to-order-english-as-official-us-language?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Trump</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/OfficialLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#OfficialLanguage</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/USPolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#USPolitics</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/ExecutiveOrder" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ExecutiveOrder</a>

nichtvermietbarHa, ha wer hätte das gedacht? "Crocodiles do not swim here" vs "Crocodiles! Do NOT swim here!" 🐊 <a href="https://troet.cafe/tags/humor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#humor</a> <a href="https://troet.cafe/tags/englishlanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#englishlanguage</a>

Absolute Memery 🎭🔥 💦 <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/English" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#English</a> <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/Fireman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Fireman</a> <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/Waterman" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Waterman</a>.<a href="https://tribe.net/tags/Meme" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Meme</a> <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/Memes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Memes</a> <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/Humour" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Humour</a> <a href="https://tribe.net/tags/Humor" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Humor</a>

LisaHWith the world on fire this may seem trivial but why on Earth do Americans refuse to understand the difference between less and fewer?Now <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/TV" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#TV</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/commercials" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#commercials</a> are using the terms incorrectly 🤬and I have no patience left for it <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/grammar" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#grammar</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/illiterate" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#illiterate</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WillfullyIgnorant" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WillfullyIgnorant</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AmericansAreADisgraceOnEveryLevel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AmericansAreADisgraceOnEveryLevel</a>

Cainmark Does Not Comply 🚲English is a strange language. I pronounce a lot of words wrong until I'm corrected because I've read, and still read, a lot."Euthanasia" is a a word that I thought was pronounce almost like "Lufthansa". Yoot-han-see-ah.When I heard it said, I heard "Youth in Asia" and having the early 1970s as a reference, I thought it was referring to young Vietnamese people and how they dealt with the war.The same word.<a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/d_history" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#d_history</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/b_psychology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#b_psychology</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/ct_biography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#ct_biography</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

YavoWhenever you're feeling "feisty" remember it means : full of spirit or determination : quarrelsome or aggressiveWhy?It originates from "feist" (1896) — "small aggressive dog" — which originally meant "stink", and earlier "fart".I am as bewildered as you are.<a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/WordOfTheDay" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WordOfTheDay</a> <a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Words" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Words</a> <a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/Writing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Writing</a> <a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WritingCommunity</a> <a href="https://fosstodon.org/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

jendeferI am not cross at all these words (some I am even glad to learn!) but a few earned an angry face drawn next to the clue.smew - a small duck I am unlikely to ever see myself 😢 amah - nursemaid in India erose - eaten away (suspiciously thin entry in Wiktionary) sloe - aka blackthorn, a wild plum (relative of roses!) ameba - who spells amoeba this way!? rale - crackling noise from the chest, though seldom used in singular<a href="https://dice.camp/tags/CrossAtWords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CrossAtWords</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/crosswords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#crosswords</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/definitions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#definitions</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/WordMeanings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WordMeanings</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

jendeferJust finished a crossword. These are the answers to the clues I am "cross" about. That is, obscure (to me) words. So new hashtag: <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/CrossAtWords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CrossAtWords</a>olio - a stew olla - a jug brocket - type of deer sera - crazy plural for serum transom - crossbar of a doorway or window (in addition to many other meanings)My wife wanted "transom" to be a way to describe a really attractive trans-masc person. We may start using it that way.<a href="https://dice.camp/tags/WordMeanings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WordMeanings</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/definitions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#definitions</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://dice.camp/tags/crosswords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#crosswords</a>

Rupert BrackenburyYou assume we all speak the same language until you try to do an <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/American" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#American</a> <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/CrypticCrossword" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#CrypticCrossword</a><a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/anglosphere" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#anglosphere</a> <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mastodon.nz/tags/NZTwits" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#NZTwits</a>

sunflowerinrainThe first time I encountered mention of English kings being "coronated" I assumed it was a typo. Americanglish does some very different things with nouns-to-verbs (and with abstract nouns, too) compared to EnglishEnglish, but is "coronated" a real thing in USian-speak? (My favourite is "burglarized" which has taken a hop too many from its root verb "to burgle". If you look closely, it would mean "to make into a burglar". I wonder why it's used? Burgled is shorter, too.) <a href="https://mastodon.online/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a>

Evan Centanni (PolGeoNow)<a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/UnitedStates" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#UnitedStates</a> presidency has removed <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/Spanish" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Spanish</a>-language version of its website, as it did in 2017 under first Trump term. Though <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/English" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#English</a> is primary language of US govt, the country has no official national language, and Spanish is second-most-spoken. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-spanish-language-website-62224890c5b05c8ce0878358ba4a5266" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-spanish-language-website-62224890c5b05c8ce0878358ba4a5266</a><a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/officiallanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#officiallanguage</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/languagepolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#languagepolitics</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/geography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#geography</a> <a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/geography" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@geography</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/SpanishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#SpanishLanguage</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/hispanoablante" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#hispanoablante</a> <a href="https://mstdn.social/tags/LatinAmerica" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#LatinAmerica</a>

RichInteresting that so many people on <a href="https://toot.wales/tags/traitorsuk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#traitorsuk</a> say "yourself" rather than "you" during the round table discussion. Is this a general feature of the <a href="https://toot.wales/tags/English" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#English</a> language now? It's not something I've noticed in everyday conversation.<a href="https://toot.wales/tags/EnglishLanguage" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#EnglishLanguage</a> <a href="https://toot.wales/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#language</a>

Recent searches

Search options

Administered by:

Server stats:

#englishlanguage