Correlation between food, jaw evolution, and language
It takes a minor inconvenience to appreciate something we take for granted, I’ll tell you that. In this case I am talking about a sin of gluttony — burning one’s tongue on hot food. Now, we’ve all been in the situation where one’s food has been so tasty looking, but boiling hot, that one cannot […]
German with English cognates
Cognates are words of common origin. German “Hand” and English “hand”, for instance.These are obviously the same word. But sometimes cognates are not so obvious. Languageschange over time. “humbug” used to be very offensive, the same way “bullshit” is now, butnow “humbug” just sounds quaint and silly. The English word “land” in German is “Land”.German […]
A look at English Words with Scottish Gaelic origin
Ah, English, a language which is approximately 80-90% a mish-mash of other languages in origin. A language where a third of words are French despite the average Englishman being horrified at the idea of speaking French! I jest of course but my point is that English is a language that has evolved from many origin […]
How Corpora Changed Linguistics
A long time ago in a German forest far, far away, two brothers who by chance happened to share the surname “Grimm” noticed something odd. They had roamed far and wide their Northern European, homelands and even a bit further to collect stories. Although they were surprised with how some stories were so similar – […]
Asterix and Obelix – playing with languages
Who doesn’t know Asterix and Obelix, the magic duo that stops the Romans from conquering France – at the time known as Gaul. Through adventures and fights the two help their small village to survive the greedy but silly Romans. The existence of this comic book marked many generations and entertained with its witty jokes […]
The Etymological Corner
Peace If you have read any of my texts before you have probably noticed that the topic of each article is inspired by something that is going on in my academic, professional or personal life. This month’s text is no different. Being European, living so close to the Ukrainian boarder it is impossible not to […]
