Blue Anorak » Language

Billified

admin — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:52:07 +0000

Today, I had some members of my form in a lates detention for the simple reason that they had arrived to school in an unpunctual manner. At the end of break I was told by MH, a friend of the three culprits, that she had been “billified”.

“Vilified?” I asked.

“No, billified,” MH clarified, “left on me bill”.

This was a new one on me so I asked colleagues later whether they had heard this word.

No. But it was agreed that this word was noteworthy. We were unsure whether the deverbal noun should be billification or billifaction although I prefer the latter since it would be less likely to be confused with vilification.
Knowing that the OED are keen to be able to date the first occurrence of new words, I thought it best to note it swiftly. I have no idea whether this word has been floating around Westhoughton’s youth for a while but I am posting it here and now for the record.

billify, bilify (billifying, billified) verb to cause someone to be alone

Technorati Tags: billified, billification, billifaction, billify, verb

Typical American numptiness

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:24:24 +0000

Apple Matters | The Apple Store – No Place for Kids: “How about some classes? I’d rather my son learn Ruby on Rails before he learns a useless foreign language, so why not have some in-store classes targeting the 6-10 year old crowd? Use iWeb to make your first web site. His school is full of eMacs – there’s an eMac for every student, teacher, cafeteria lady and playground monitor… do you think there’s an opportunity for a little cross promotion here?”

Today’s challenge: name me one useless foreign language. No, just one. And then explain why it’s useless. Just bear in mind that I’m not going to accept any language spoken by less than one person.

Irony bypass

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:29:49 +0000

Prompted by this comment on Flickr I dug this out:

The Local – View topic – What is the most stupid Swedish rule you have encountered?
Having a poorly developed sense of humour or an irony bypass however is illigal sic in the UK and you will be sentenced to be a social outcast for life.

The days are drawing in…

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:15:27 +0000

Today is a big day in the life of many a teacher: we have no more get ups!

It’s also the vernal equinox. We say after the summer equinox that the nights are drawing in. Ought the opposite to be the days are drawing in or the days are drawing out? The former has the benefit of being, clearly, an opposite. The latter appears to be a double opposite.

Double possessive

admin — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:14:44 +0000

5 – Questions and Answers: Double possessive: “[Q] From Frances Pack: ‘You recently wrote ‘a friend of Pope’s’. What? Do I not remember correctly that Pope’s is already possessive—so the use of of before it makes a double possessive? That was drummed into my ears when I was a freshman in high school in Latin I class. Curious—because I sometimes slip and write it that way—then have to go back and ‘correct’ it. Is this no longer the rule?’

[A] It never was. You’ve been led into a misunderstanding, as some grammarians of the eighteenth century were, by trying to apply the rules of Latin to English, where they don’t fit. It must be said that disputes about it are unrelated to effective communication, since nobody would ever fail to understand ‘a friend of Pope’s’.

[...]

In particular, grammarians say a double possessive is essential to avoid giving the wrong meaning when a word indicating ownership is placed after of, as ‘a bone of the dog’s’. The extra possessive is required because ‘a bone of the dog’ means, not a bone in the possession of the dog, but one inside the dog. ‘A picture of Jane’ means an image of Jane, whereas ‘a picture of Jane’s’ is a picture of any sort that happens to be owned by Jane.”

(Via World Wide Words newsletter.)

Translations

admin — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:57:18 +0000

A note on translation, from a review of Anthony Briggs’ translation of War and Peace: “Secondly, this idea that a translation should be happily smooth. I agree with Milan Kundera: ‘Partisans of ‘flowing’ translation often object to my translators: ‘That’s not the way to say it in German (in English, in Spanish, etc.)!’ I reply: ‘It’s not the way to say it in Czech either!””

(Via Guardian Unlimited.)