And today, in Pedants' Corner, we're going to look at a handful of nyms and a phone.
Homonyms are words with the same spelling, but different meanings. Thus "pot" (as in, "I will cook this in a pot") is a homonym for "pot" (as in, "I don't think you should smoke pot").
Synonyms are words with different spelling, but the same meaning. Thus "set" (as in "I will set this on the table") is a synonym for "put" (as in, "I will put this on the table")
Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation, but have different spellings and meanings. Thus "buy" (as in, "I think this is a good buy") is a homophone for "bye" (as in, "I think this is goodbye").
Pseudonyms are fake names used by people who don't want to use their real name. Thus "Currer Bell" (as in, "Jane Eyre, by Currer Bell") is a pseudonym for "Charlotte Brontë" (as in, "Shirley, by Charlotte Brontë").
The important message to take away from this is that homonyms look alike, but do not necessarily sound alike, while homophones sound alike but do not necessarily look alike.
It's easy enough to remember once you notice that "homophone" has the phoneme "phone" in it. "Homo" means "same", "phone" means "sound".
I mention this because I came across a website that specialises in helping people work out easily confused words... and they had accidentally used "homonym" instead of "homophone" on their own front page...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Cheeseday
By the way, after consultation with various interested parties, the official cheese week looks like this:
Colby = the first day of the working week
Feta = the second day
Edam = the third day
Jarlesburg = the fourth day
Halloumi = the fifth day
Camembert = the first day of the weekend/the Sabbath
Brie = the "Lord's Cheese"...
Now, the next challenge is to rename all of the months after root vegetables. I'm voting for "Beetroot" for the first month on the calendar...
Colby = the first day of the working week
Feta = the second day
Edam = the third day
Jarlesburg = the fourth day
Halloumi = the fifth day
Camembert = the first day of the weekend/the Sabbath
Brie = the "Lord's Cheese"...
Now, the next challenge is to rename all of the months after root vegetables. I'm voting for "Beetroot" for the first month on the calendar...
That's an insult
From a Wall Street Journal Article:
"He has compared a prominent opponent of the switch to a local "avaava" fish -- a sea creature that swims in shallow waters and eats garbage, an insult in Samoan culture."
You mean, calling someone a shallow garbage eater is an insult? Go figure.
Anyway, I like it. I think I'm going to have to add "avaava" to "troglodyte" and "fustilarian" on my list of "insults that are almost as much fun to say as they are to give."
"He has compared a prominent opponent of the switch to a local "avaava" fish -- a sea creature that swims in shallow waters and eats garbage, an insult in Samoan culture."
You mean, calling someone a shallow garbage eater is an insult? Go figure.
Anyway, I like it. I think I'm going to have to add "avaava" to "troglodyte" and "fustilarian" on my list of "insults that are almost as much fun to say as they are to give."
Sunday, November 8, 2009
You and me, and all that jazz
Okay, people, it's not that hard. You just ask yourself, "what would I say if I wasn't sharing this sentence with someone else?"
So, if you felt compelled to write the sentence:
"I don't think this will effect the work Lynn and myself are doing with that room."
You should simply remove Lynn and see how the sentence reads without her:
"I don't think this will effect the work myself am doing with that room."
Doesn't sound right, does it?
That's because it's WRONG. Really, really WRONG. So WRONG it almost eclipses the incorrect use of the word "effect" in that sentence. Almost, but not quite.
To the person who originally wrote that sentence, I say this:
"That's not quite right."
Oh, come on, like there's any point in correcting people these days. No one cares. No one listens. No one wants to know. No one wants to hang out with you afterwards...
Why don't you all just forget there's such a thing as case in the English language (yeah, you heard me, I said the English language has cases!) and just use whatever pronouns you feel like. We all know you will anyway.
So, if you felt compelled to write the sentence:
"I don't think this will effect the work Lynn and myself are doing with that room."
You should simply remove Lynn and see how the sentence reads without her:
"I don't think this will effect the work myself am doing with that room."
Doesn't sound right, does it?
That's because it's WRONG. Really, really WRONG. So WRONG it almost eclipses the incorrect use of the word "effect" in that sentence. Almost, but not quite.
To the person who originally wrote that sentence, I say this:
"That's not quite right."
Oh, come on, like there's any point in correcting people these days. No one cares. No one listens. No one wants to know. No one wants to hang out with you afterwards...
Why don't you all just forget there's such a thing as case in the English language (yeah, you heard me, I said the English language has cases!) and just use whatever pronouns you feel like. We all know you will anyway.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Fennecs and Pikas Alive Alive-O
I want one of these:
Anyone know where I can get a fennec?
Fennecs, by the way, start with the letter "f", not the letter "p". I mention this, because I was once involved in a ridiculously drawn out game of categories when someone said we had to come up with every animal we could think of starting with the letter "p".
There are a lot of them, and at one point the word "pika" came into my mind. Someone tried to challenge me on it, but I stuck to my guns. Sadly, I described it as a type of fox with really big ears. This not only sounded like something completely made up, but it was also quite incorrect.
A pika looks like this:
It is, as you can see, a type of lagomorph with relatively small ears, given the ear size of other lagomorphs like rabbits and hares.
"What in the Zharkian Empire is a lagomorph?" I hear you cry. "If it's some kind of rodent, why don't you just say so?"
Well, gentle readers, it turns out that rabbits, hares and pikas are not rodents at all. They belong to a completely different order of animal - lagomorpha. They bear but a superficial resemblance to members of the rodentia order. And yet, despite this, members of both orders are equally likely to pee in your hand. You get that.
So, while a pika may superficially resemble a degu:
Or, perhaps a chinchilla:
It is, in fact, nothing at all like a small fox with large ears. That would be a fennec:
That's "fennec" with an "f".
Anyone know where I can get a fennec?
Fennecs, by the way, start with the letter "f", not the letter "p". I mention this, because I was once involved in a ridiculously drawn out game of categories when someone said we had to come up with every animal we could think of starting with the letter "p".
There are a lot of them, and at one point the word "pika" came into my mind. Someone tried to challenge me on it, but I stuck to my guns. Sadly, I described it as a type of fox with really big ears. This not only sounded like something completely made up, but it was also quite incorrect.
A pika looks like this:
It is, as you can see, a type of lagomorph with relatively small ears, given the ear size of other lagomorphs like rabbits and hares.
"What in the Zharkian Empire is a lagomorph?" I hear you cry. "If it's some kind of rodent, why don't you just say so?"
Well, gentle readers, it turns out that rabbits, hares and pikas are not rodents at all. They belong to a completely different order of animal - lagomorpha. They bear but a superficial resemblance to members of the rodentia order. And yet, despite this, members of both orders are equally likely to pee in your hand. You get that.
So, while a pika may superficially resemble a degu:
Or, perhaps a chinchilla:
It is, in fact, nothing at all like a small fox with large ears. That would be a fennec:
That's "fennec" with an "f".
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fury vs Glory and GC United
Oh. My God.
The Fury appear to be on a winning streak. I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself.
I meant to write a post last week about the match against Perth Glory, but I ran out of time. Let's see if I can sum it up:
"Hell, yeah!"
They gave us a show and a win. What more could you ask? a) a 2-1 win, b) second win of the series, c) first home win ever... I was so happy I bought a hat. It's now my "victory" hat, and I'll wear it whenever we win.
I briefly put it on yesterday when I read about our 2-0 win over Gold Coast. After our last match against GC United ended with a 5-0 loss, the 2-0 win was very sweet.
This is what I'm talking about, people. When you support the stuggling team, every win is "Yeah! We Won! Huzzah!", while a loss is just "eh, whatever". But if you're team is consistently at the top of the ladder, any win is just same-ol-same-ol, while any loss is devastating. It's always good when the wins mean more than the losses.
Meanwhile, the fact that the only games I can watch are the live matches totally sucks, dude. What happened to the days when at least some of the A League matches were televised free to air? I'm not going to pay for Fox Sport, dammit! SBS or Seven, get your gear into action and buy back some rights!
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