Search found 48 matches

by Andrew Dalby
Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:04 am
Forum: Languages of the World
Topic: How many languages do you know?
Replies: 4
Views: 15024

Yes, but how long does it take to 'know' a language? Like you, I've studied quite a few. I think I know English pretty well (been studying it seriously since I was about 12 months old) but I encounter a word that's new to me every week or so. I think I know French fairly well, but I come across at l...
by Andrew Dalby
Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:57 am
Forum: Good Word Discussion
Topic: HOI POLLOI
Replies: 6
Views: 18628

I don't know which royal pants you have in mind, Kt. The middle-aged and younger British royals seem to spend quite a lot of their time sans culottes ...
by Andrew Dalby
Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:08 am
Forum: Grammar
Topic: The second sentence of a colon
Replies: 10
Views: 32739

Re: The second sentence of a colon

Here's something I've noticed in newspapers for which I find no clear-cut rule. There seem to be two ways of approaching what follows a colon, and that is to capitalise or not to capitalise. Which is it? The copy-editor for a book I've just completed (for W. W. Norton, New York) imposed this rule t...
by Andrew Dalby
Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:01 am
Forum: Languages of the World
Topic: Koine form of Immanuel
Replies: 8
Views: 20419

I suppose this is the origin of Manuel (Greek Manouel), name of the twelfth-century emperor Manuel Komnenos. This form, too, seems to be invariable: no differing accusative, genitive or dative cases.
by Andrew Dalby
Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:47 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Sexo islâmico/Islamic sex
Replies: 5
Views: 15359

Hah! The long version of the old joke about Baptists!
But not as long as it ought to have been. BD left one of the best bits out of the English translation. He might provide the missing words if we ask him nicely ...
by Andrew Dalby
Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:05 am
Forum: Good Word Suggestions
Topic: Phrontistery
Replies: 7
Views: 17532

Re: Phrontistery

Phrontistery --a word my pompous nature prompts me to use more often than simpler words such as school, college, university and institute-- is where one studies. While checking its etymology, I was surprised by American Heritage, my sure etymological compendium on the Web, not listing the word as a...
by Andrew Dalby
Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:00 am
Forum: Good Word Suggestions
Topic: halcyon
Replies: 17
Views: 29261

Alcione....

I always thought it was Alcinoe. That's how studying foreign names in katakana ends up sometimes.

Flma
Alcinoe existed (mythologically speaking) as well. Maybe they were best friends.
by Andrew Dalby
Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:57 am
Forum: The Rebel-Yankee Test
Topic: Soft Drinks: pop, soda, coke, et al
Replies: 84
Views: 545690

Re: Soft drinks: pop, soda, coke, et al

... and tonic is definately an old fashioned remedy for what ails ya. For everything else bag balm works just fine :D
What on earth is bag balm?
by Andrew Dalby
Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:55 am
Forum: Spelling
Topic: Miss Spelling
Replies: 12
Views: 51624

I agree. According to my Cobuild Dictionary, "a while"/"awhile" also depends on location. In the UK, the former rules while in the US the latter is correct. But according to my American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), both "a while" and "awhile" are used in Americ...
by Andrew Dalby
Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:49 am
Forum: Idioms
Topic: Nothing
Replies: 11
Views: 50889

In English couldn't we also say: That's not that quick of a route. It's not that big of a deal. We were just sitting, enjoying the quiet of a summer's eve. -Tim Not in my English: I've never heard the first two or wanted to say them. Nor have I heard 'It's not that good of a paint job'. These must ...
by Andrew Dalby
Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:30 am
Forum: Languages of the World
Topic: -stani
Replies: 9
Views: 51595

... A bit back to the topic, Cypriot as the adjective form of Cyprus strikes me as odd too. In origin this is an ancient Greek suffix. It was specially used, 2500 years ago, to denote the Greek inhabitants of overseas countries -- thus Italiotai 'Greeks of Italy', Sikeliotai 'Greeks of Sicily', Mas...
by Andrew Dalby
Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:39 am
Forum: Languages of the World
Topic: -stani
Replies: 9
Views: 51595

So far as I can see, the word form of 'Pakistan' is modelled on older forms such as 'Hindustan', an old-fashioned term for the whole subcontinent or the northern swathe of it. There are many such names in Iran and central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, etc.) Hindustan is a Persian noun (m...
by Andrew Dalby
Fri Feb 24, 2006 9:22 am
Forum: Grammar
Topic: as best as???
Replies: 2
Views: 17237

I've just looked in the Oxford English Dictionary and found examples of 'as best' going back to about 1350, but the earliest examples all have 'such' in the sentence ('such behaviour as best befits a man', that kind of thing) which is not the same perhaps. From the 1800s onwards there are lots of ex...
by Andrew Dalby
Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:48 am
Forum: WELCOME HOME!
Topic: The Adventure of English
Replies: 8
Views: 45601

Why he separates the Normans with the Danes and Vikings? The military invading does not involve and the cultural conquest. The Anglo-Saxon had already hyper culture than that tribes. I suppose he treats them separately because, as maybe you intend to say, the Norman invasion had a permanent effect,...
by Andrew Dalby
Fri Jan 20, 2006 4:13 pm
Forum: Res Diversae
Topic: Der Untergang des Abendlandes
Replies: 30
Views: 65968

Most States now have 'right-turn-on-red' don't they?

Kt
California: where they are all in a hurry to go nowhere and do nothing.
Don't try it when you drive in Europe, Kt

Go to advanced search