The Best of British - British Slang. Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary and thesaurus. IdiomSite.com - Find out the meanings of common sayings. Linguistic Geography of the United States. Traditionally, dialectologists have listed three dialect groups in the United States: Northern, Midland, and Southern--although some scholars prefer a two-way classification of simply Northern and Southern, and one may also find significant difference on the boundaries of each area.
The map shown above represents a synthesis of various independent field studies this century. These are in chronological order: the Linguistic Atlas fieldwork begun under the direction of Hans Kurath in the 1930's; the informal but extensive personal observations of Charles Thomas in the 1940's; the DARE fieldwork of the 1960's under Frederic Cassidy; and the Phonological Atlas fieldwork of William Labov during the 1990's. Although it may seem that a great amount of data has been collected over a short time span, the shifts in American dialects this century have been rapid enough to outpace the data collection.
Online Etymology Dictionary. Word association. Select Your Language. Ten Most Difficult Words to Translate. Sometimes even the finest translators come up against words that defy translation.
Many languages include words that don’t have a simple counterpart in another language. When translators come across such a word, they usually describe it so that it makes sense in the target language. But some words pose more difficulty than others due to interesting cultural differences. Here are ten words that are particularly difficult to translate: Mamihlapinatapei From Yagan, the indigenous language of the Tierra del Fuego region of South America. Jayus From Indonesian, meaning a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh. Prozvonit In both Czech and Slovak language, this word means to call a mobile phone only to have it ring once so that the other person would call back, allowing the caller not to spend money on minutes. Kyoikumama In Japanese, this word refers to a mother who relentlessly pushes her children toward academic achievement.
WEBSITES\HOBOPAGE\hobosigns. Hobo Signs These Hobo Signs below, plus a large glossary of Hobo Terms are available in printed form in my book "The American Hoboes" "Riders of the Rails".
For information about this book, and how to acquire a copy, email me by clicking on the button below. email Fran For more fabulous, informative Hobo information use these links.There are none better on the entire internet. There may be one or more signs that give the same message or, at times, there may be slightly different meanings for a sign. More Hobo/Tramp Signs With so much Hobo and tramp history unrecorded all we can do is draw the best conclusions from what we are able to put together from bits and pieces of old documents that can still be found so, from my own experience, and studies, I believe these are tramp signs. Key to Hobo / Tramp Signs Below. Indo-European Languages—Centum Branch. Escaped Pet Birds Are Teaching Wild Birds to Speak English. Photo: enlewof / cc Across parts of Australia, reports have been pouring in of strange voices chattering high in the treetops -- mysterious, non-sensical conversations in English.
But while this phenomenon is certainly quite odd, its explanation isn't paranormal. It turns out that escaped pet birds, namely parrots and cockatoos, have begun teaching their wild bird counterparts a bit of the language they picked up from their time in captivity -- and, according to witnesses, that includes more than a few expletives.Jaynia Sladek, an ornithologist from the Australian Museum, says that some birds are just natural mimickers, able to acquire new sounds based on things they hear around them. For birds kept as pets, these sounds tend to mirror human language -- but that influence doesn't cease even after said birds escape or are released back into the wild. The 10 Coolest Foreign Words The English Language Needs. Means: Somebody who has nothing but bad luck.
Have you ever found yourself at the end of a sequence of events that started with ordering a Big Mac, and ended with being roughly sodomized on national television? Fortunately most people will not experience this. But then there are those that the Yiddish call shlimazl</>, the chronically unlucky. And yes, we know that half of you are saying, "Ha, that's ME! " You know, the guy who got the girl pregnant the first time he had sex, thanks to getting the rare defective condom. Tatemae and Honne (Japanese) What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively.
A whole lot of the angst in the world is due to the difference between what we actually believe, and what we're allowed to admit we believe. The Japanese have just accepted this huge difference between what we mean and what we say, calling them "honne" and "tatemae. " Sgiomlaireachd (Scottish Gaelic) When people interrupt you at meal time. You know what sucks? Don't laugh.