Amen, j.e.! I've already made a pledge to not subscribe to anyone whose creativity stops right at the point I should be lured in.....their 'Stack's title! So, to all you "Cindy's Substack" or "John's Newsletter" folks, sayonara! Aren't we glad Tolstoy didn't name his opus, "Leo's Long Book"?
“Time heals all wounds." Or, as Groucho Marx famously put it: "Time wounds all heels."
This sort of thing happens a lot in the titles of animated cartoons- Bugs Bunny ones often used titles that played on the homophonic relationship between "hare" and "hair", while Daffy Duck ones included some riff on "quack".
In my country of birth, we had kid stories that used to teach how adding or moving punctuation around changes the sentence's meaning. Here are a few examples in English.
That's really neat. There are so many languages and dialects. Here in the US, we have plenty of dialects that are all sort of considered subsets of English, but there's a lot of variety too. Still, there is nothing like the diversity of communication present in India!
Yes, India is an interesting country from a diversity perspective. Food, language, and culture change greatly between states and often even between cities within a state.
For example, I got exposure to six languages when I was growing up. My mother tongue, the national language (Hindi), English, had to learn a third language(Sanskrit) in school and then language of the state I was born in and Urdu used to be another language since India has a second largest population of Muslims. I can read, speak, understand and write only two. I can understand three of them if they are spoken to me. I just never got into the habit of speaking these three, so my accent and word pronunciation will be way off even if I try. I have completely forgotten Sanskrit.
I'm working on a few languages now, but just to understand how they work. I can read and understand Latin to at least a tiny degree, and that helps with all those romance languages. Similarly, I think if I learned the basics of Arabic, other related languages might start to make some sense. Do you think Hindi would be a good language like that, which might unlock a very basic understanding of several languages? I think that's mainly what I'm after with my own language study.
Hindi is not an easy language to learn. If you know Arabic, Urdu will be easier to learn.
My son, who was born in the US, has learned Hindi, Mandarin, and Arabic in addition to English. He said that knowing Hindi helped him learn Arabic. This may be due to we include quite a few Urdu words when we speak Hindi.
This week I wrote about bending your brain and my unexpected exposure to existentialism as a 13yo. Unclear how that topic popped it my head but might well have been inspired by some of your writing Andrew - lot of brain bendy-ness going on around here.
Thanks, Andrew! Glad I could inspire an article! Not really on topic, but yet another thing that dared hit my brain: If the past-tense of "teach" is "taught," why isn't the past tense of "preach"...."praught"?
Sure enough, I'm not the first to wonder: "Every time irregularity occurs in English, is because that verb that looks similar, has a different etymology. As for PREACH, it roots back to French word preechier or Latin predecian. As for TEACH, as well as REACH, it is of Old English and Proto-Germanic origin, so it takes (and keeps) the Proto-Germanic conjugation."--Quora
I don't care.........it's still bizarre! As for the one letter changed in a phrase or a sentence, that's an issue that can become a challenge for an editor (as we Substackers can attest) or typesetter (or sign maker)! What might make for a fun parlor game (do they still have parlors? games?) is to write, on slips of paper, popular, time-worn phrases, like, "A stitch in time saves nine" or "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Either every player gets the same one, or each gets a different one, all to see if someone can majorly (or, hopefully, humorously) change the phrases' meanings by the changing of just one letter! Lemme know if Hasbro or Milton Bradley calls!
Carry on! Or, as fellow Houston homeboy, and longtime Austin-based (like me, now!) comic, Kerry Awn would say....."Kerry Awn"! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Awn
Yes! Are you familiar with English is Cuh-Ray-Zee (English is Crazy) by Pete Seeger? He talks all about this stuff! You'd love it if you haven't already heard it.
The late, great Martin Mull was one of my favorite word-lovers...everything from outlandish word-pictures (in "Margie the Midget," he sang, "walking hand in ankle with her arm around my sock") to "Some people have a way with words; others, not have way," he was a near Carlin-esque lover and student of the language! I know I'll miss him!
What a lonely post. I really biked it. Mole please.
You're a real germ, darn.
I fry my zest!
These would also make great titles for Substack newsletters!😂
Amen, j.e.! I've already made a pledge to not subscribe to anyone whose creativity stops right at the point I should be lured in.....their 'Stack's title! So, to all you "Cindy's Substack" or "John's Newsletter" folks, sayonara! Aren't we glad Tolstoy didn't name his opus, "Leo's Long Book"?
“Time heals all wounds." Or, as Groucho Marx famously put it: "Time wounds all heels."
This sort of thing happens a lot in the titles of animated cartoons- Bugs Bunny ones often used titles that played on the homophonic relationship between "hare" and "hair", while Daffy Duck ones included some riff on "quack".
I think I learned some of my early divergent thinking from Loony Tunes.
Long live Chuck Jones and the creative denizens of Termite Terrace!
my brain is going to be licking and kicking pies and dies all the give song may.
Shanks, Royce!
In my country of birth, we had kid stories that used to teach how adding or moving punctuation around changes the sentence's meaning. Here are a few examples in English.
"I can't do that.”
"I can't. Do that."
"The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."
"The panda eats shoots and leaves."
"I saw her duck."
"I saw her, duck."
“The teacher said, 'The student is smart.'"
"The teacher, said the student, is smart.”
What was the country of birth, if you don't mind sharing?
India
That's really neat. There are so many languages and dialects. Here in the US, we have plenty of dialects that are all sort of considered subsets of English, but there's a lot of variety too. Still, there is nothing like the diversity of communication present in India!
Yes, India is an interesting country from a diversity perspective. Food, language, and culture change greatly between states and often even between cities within a state.
For example, I got exposure to six languages when I was growing up. My mother tongue, the national language (Hindi), English, had to learn a third language(Sanskrit) in school and then language of the state I was born in and Urdu used to be another language since India has a second largest population of Muslims. I can read, speak, understand and write only two. I can understand three of them if they are spoken to me. I just never got into the habit of speaking these three, so my accent and word pronunciation will be way off even if I try. I have completely forgotten Sanskrit.
I'm working on a few languages now, but just to understand how they work. I can read and understand Latin to at least a tiny degree, and that helps with all those romance languages. Similarly, I think if I learned the basics of Arabic, other related languages might start to make some sense. Do you think Hindi would be a good language like that, which might unlock a very basic understanding of several languages? I think that's mainly what I'm after with my own language study.
Hindi is not an easy language to learn. If you know Arabic, Urdu will be easier to learn.
My son, who was born in the US, has learned Hindi, Mandarin, and Arabic in addition to English. He said that knowing Hindi helped him learn Arabic. This may be due to we include quite a few Urdu words when we speak Hindi.
Per him, Mandarin was the hardest.
That's a fantastic observation! It's amazing the things you can do with worms! Haha... 😎
I pee what you did there.
Okay, so now my brain is jumping down rabbit holes. Yikes! A stitch in time becomes a snitch in time. And... See what you started?
See what you sharted! Aaaarrggghhh!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhh! And you show sharped it.
Woah, not only is this funny, it's also insightful
Also lmao I love that gif so frickin much
Hey, thanks! It's also one of my favorite all-time GIFs.
Good taste!
Cool. I have thought many times about one word changing but not one letter. I hope the pie is cast more often in my direction.
Well prayed!
🤣
I am intrigued by homophones; words that sound alike yet might have different spellings and meanings. Examples might be “by, buy, bye…”
Homophones are super neat, especially those that are almost opposites, like "raze" or "raise."
This week I wrote about bending your brain and my unexpected exposure to existentialism as a 13yo. Unclear how that topic popped it my head but might well have been inspired by some of your writing Andrew - lot of brain bendy-ness going on around here.
In retrospect, I probably should have included you as an example here.
Had to think about that for a min, but yeah thwip!! My son carried it on in reverse - his baseball nickname was Snidey
I would be unable to avoid saying things like, "My Snidey-sense is tingling!"
Yeah it's amazing all right
With a great last name comes great responsibility.
😁
Thanks, Andrew! Glad I could inspire an article! Not really on topic, but yet another thing that dared hit my brain: If the past-tense of "teach" is "taught," why isn't the past tense of "preach"...."praught"?
Sure enough, I'm not the first to wonder: "Every time irregularity occurs in English, is because that verb that looks similar, has a different etymology. As for PREACH, it roots back to French word preechier or Latin predecian. As for TEACH, as well as REACH, it is of Old English and Proto-Germanic origin, so it takes (and keeps) the Proto-Germanic conjugation."--Quora
I don't care.........it's still bizarre! As for the one letter changed in a phrase or a sentence, that's an issue that can become a challenge for an editor (as we Substackers can attest) or typesetter (or sign maker)! What might make for a fun parlor game (do they still have parlors? games?) is to write, on slips of paper, popular, time-worn phrases, like, "A stitch in time saves nine" or "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Either every player gets the same one, or each gets a different one, all to see if someone can majorly (or, hopefully, humorously) change the phrases' meanings by the changing of just one letter! Lemme know if Hasbro or Milton Bradley calls!
Carry on! Or, as fellow Houston homeboy, and longtime Austin-based (like me, now!) comic, Kerry Awn would say....."Kerry Awn"! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Awn
Yes! Are you familiar with English is Cuh-Ray-Zee (English is Crazy) by Pete Seeger? He talks all about this stuff! You'd love it if you haven't already heard it.
The late, great Martin Mull was one of my favorite word-lovers...everything from outlandish word-pictures (in "Margie the Midget," he sang, "walking hand in ankle with her arm around my sock") to "Some people have a way with words; others, not have way," he was a near Carlin-esque lover and student of the language! I know I'll miss him!
Certainly familiar with Seeger’s legacy, but particular songs have eluded me. I’ll check that one out!