athousanderrors

madmaudlingoes:Except in your examples, [big cat] and [great dragon] are compound nouns, not noun...

2019-12-07T19:01:23Z

via https://ift.tt/2sXcWyX

madmaudlingoes:

Except in your examples, [big cat] and [great dragon] are compound nouns, not noun phrases.

“A steel blackbird” is still well-formed according to the rule proposed in the graphic; “a steel, black bird” is not.

There are exceptions to this rule: “a small, nasty man” vs. “a nasty little man,” for instance. But those seem to have to do with rhythm as much as meaning.

spiderine:

… well, “brown big cat” makes sense if you’re talking about big cats (lions, tigers etc). therefore, a category of dragons could be called “great dragons” and one type, or this particular example, is green.

Moral: there is no “rule” in English - not even an unspoken rule - that does not have exceptions, because we’re bastards that way.

write-on-world:
(Your picture was not posted)

comments

Awesome Childhood Spelling

2018-06-10T21:27:23Z

via https://ift.tt/2JyOo2H

misty-anne:

allthingslinguistic:

dedalvs:

Uhh…where it says “looked” read “lopped”. lol This is based on the original tweet you see up there by Twitter user sal_perez4 (see the original tweet here).

Another, similar thread by Jonathon Owen on the linguistics of this same excellent tweet.

deadcatwithaflamethrower
(Your picture was not posted)

comments

istudypirates: malkiewicz: Synonyms are weird because if you invite someone to your cottage in the..

2017-10-09T15:17:23Z

via http://ift.tt/2z9QS2s:
istudypirates:

malkiewicz:

Synonyms are weird because if you invite someone to your cottage in the forest that just sounds nice and cozy, but if I invite you to my cabin in the woods you’re going to die.

My favourite is explaining the difference between a butt dial and a booty call
(Your picture was not posted)

comments

animatedamerican: nentuaby: animatedamerican: asexualbrittaperry: ggiornojo: asexualbrittaperry...

2017-09-24T10:24:56Z

via http://ift.tt/2ylKfsT:
animatedamerican:

nentuaby:

animatedamerican:

asexualbrittaperry:

ggiornojo:

asexualbrittaperry:

you can make nearly any object into a good insult if you put ‘you absolute’ in front of it

example: you absolute coat hanger

as well u can just add ‘ed’ to any object and it’s sounds like you were really drunk

example: i was absolutely coat hangered last night

#i was gazeboed mate #i was absolutely baubled

Meanwhile, “utter” works for the first (e.g., “you utter floorboard”) but somehow “utterly” doesn’t seem to work as well for the second (“I was utterly floorboarded”).

Utterly doesn’t work for drunk because it’s the affix for turning random objects into terms for *shocked*, obviously.

… huh. I thought that might just be the similarity to “floored”, and yet “I was utterly coat hangered” does seem to convey something similar.

I have to tell you, I am utterly sandwiched at this discovery.

Presented without comment - Michael McIntyre.

<iframe width=“560” height=“315” src=“https://www.youtube.com/embed/F2hyB_Eg6q8” frameborder=“0” allowfullscreen></iframe>

(God I hope that works…I seem to be incapable of making youtube and tumblr cooperate…)
(Your picture was not posted)

comments

ardatli: spanish-blog: When people ask me why they should pay a human translator instead of using...

2017-06-04T13:09:55Z

via http://ift.tt/2sDFmby:
ardatli:

spanish-blog:

When people ask me why they should pay a human translator instead of using google translate I show them this picture:

tinyparlancer
(Your picture was not posted)

comments

mrs-transmuter: operativesurprise: rubes-dragon: whimmy-bam: diva-gonzo: dumbass-oikawa: conser...

2016-08-16T13:34:15Z

via http://ift.tt/2aXqDzu:
mrs-transmuter:

operativesurprise:

rubes-dragon:

whimmy-bam:

diva-gonzo:

dumbass-oikawa:

conservative-libertarian:

221books:

fuckyourwritinghabits:

cornflakepizza:

winchesterbr0s:

hesmybrother-hesadopted:

czarnoksieznik:

beesmygod:

“chuffed doesnt mean what you think it means”

it means exactly what i think it means its just some stupid word that literally has two definitions that mean the opposite thing

what the hell

This makes me really chuffed

This post is quite egregious

Well I’m nonplussed by this whole post.

goddamnit.

all of you go to hell

And you wonder why i am boggled at times

These are called contronyms! A word that is its own opposite.

Why the fuck do these exist

One theory is that the sarcastic use of the word became exceedingly prevalent and because another dictionary definition.

Are you telling me that we were such sarcastic shits it literally changed our language.

comments