Poklop is a Czech word I came across today which means trapdoor or hatch. I’m not sure of its etymology, but I just like the sound of this word.
An alternative word for the same thing is padací dveře (lit. “falling door”). Related words include padací most drawbridge, (lit. “falling bridge”) and padací mříž portculis, (lit. “falling bar/grating/grid”).
While looking through Language Log today, I came across the unusual words, grawlix, which is apparently a spiral used by cartoonists to indicate a character is swearing or cursing, along with other typographic symbols – for example @$£*&%!! (Here the ampersand (@) stands in for the grawlix).
According to Wiktionary, grawlix means “A string of typographical symbols used (especially in comic strips) to represent an obscenity or swearword.” It was apparently coined by American cartoonist Mort Walker.
Walker also coined a number of other terms for symbols used in comics, including jarn and quimp, which are also used as alternative names for typographic swearing; phosphene, which describes the stars that form over characters’ heads after they’ve been knocked out; and squean, which might float around a drunken character’s head.
Here’s an example of a comic character saying the cartoon-style swear squiggles.
Grawlix dollar sign jarn asterisk hash quimp!
The other day I heard that one of my colleagues had been “signed off”. As this was the first time I’d heard this expression in this context I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Later I discovered that she had been signed off by her doctor due to carpal tunnel syndrome and would be spending a week or two at home resting.
Have you heard this expression used in this way before?
I’ve heard of radio and television stations signing off at the end of the day, though many stations no longer do so as they broadcast 24 hours a day. I’ve also heard of projects, expenses and budgets being signed off.
There are a number of other English idioms involved signing here, including sign on, sign up (for), sign over and sign out. I suspect such expressions, and similar ones like get on/off/up/down, etc. might be quite tricky for learners of English.
Today’s word, nomophobia, is a recent coinage that means the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. It’s a contraction of “no moblie phobia”.
Something like half the mobile phone users in the UK might suffer from this condition, according to a recent survey undertaken by the Post Office. A lot people apparently feel anxious if their phone out of charge or credit, if they lose their phone or if they can’t get a signal.
Are you a nomophobic?
Weithiau dw i’n meddwl bod fy nghasgliad o offeryn cerdd yn dipyn bach rhy fawr. Mae gen i pymtheg o offeryn – dau gitâr (gitâr clasurol a gitâr tannau dur), pum chwiban tun, dau chwiban isel, ffliwt, clarinét, recorder, harmonica a dau ocarina. Dw i’n gallu chwarae nhw i gyd mwy neu lai, heblaw y ffliwt, ond dw i’n canolbwyntio ar y gitâr a’r chwibanau ar hyn o bryd. Yn ffodus mae y mwyafrif ohonyn nhw yn eitha bach, felly does dim problem dod â lle iddyn nhw.
Uaireanta tá mé ag smaoineamh go bhfuil mo bhailiúchán de gléasanna ceoil beagán ro mhór. Tá cúig gléasanna deag agam – dhá ghiotár (giotár clasaiceach agus giotár le téad chruach), cúig feadóige stáin, dhá fheadóg íseal, feadóg mhór, cláirnéid, fliúit Shasanach, orgán béil agus dhá ocarina. Is féidir liom an t-iomlán acu a sheinm a bheag nó a mhór, ach bím ag díriú ar an fheadóg stáin, an fheadóg íseal agus an giotár ar faoi láithir. Níl an chuid is mó de mo ghléasanna go ro mhór go hádhúil, mar sin de is féidir liom áiteanna a lorg dóibh.
Sometimes I think that my collection of musical instruments is a bit too large. I currently have 15 instruments – two guitars (a classical one and a steel-string one), five tin whistles, two low whistles, a flute, a clarinet, a recorder, a harmonica and two ocarinas. I can more or less play all of them, with the exception of the flute, but I’m concentrating on the guitar and whistles at the moment. Fortunately most of them at fairly small, so finding places to keep them is not a problem.
Here’s a recording of part of a news report in a mystery language. Any ideas which language it is and where it’s spoken?
Continuing yesterday’s theme of sounds that can be challenging to pronounce, today we look at the voiceless dental fricative /θ/. This sound is usually written th in English and appears in such words as three [θriː], thought [θɔːt] and thin [θɪn]. In the Spanish of Spain it’s written c (when followed by i or e), as in cien [θien], and z, as in Zaragoza [θaragoθa]. It’s also used in a number of other languages, including Greek – the Greek letter θ (Θήτα/theta) represents this sound in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).
The voiced version of this sound is represented in the IPA by the letter ð (eth), which comes from Old English. This sound is written th in English and appears in the [ðə] and though [ðoʊ]. In Welsh it’s written dd; in Icelandic ð; in Albanian, Cornish and Swahili dh, and in Greek δ (Δέλτα/delta). In Spanish d can be pronounced /ð/ when it comes between two vowels, as in nada [‘naða].
These sounds are fairly rare among the world’s languages and can be tricky for speakers of languages which don’t use them. They also tend to be the last sounds acquired by native speakers of English, according to this page.
There’s an explanation of how to pronounce the voiceless dental fricative here. You do the same and just let vocal folds vibrate to pronounce the voiced version.
I didn’t learn how to pronounce the voiceless dental fricative properly until the age of 23, when a Taiwanese friend who was studying English at university explained it to me. Before that, I wasn’t aware that there was a difference between three and free – I pronounced both with /f/ at the beginning. I still have to make a conscious effort to pronounce this sound sometimes and tend to slip back to the /f/ sound when not concentrating.
I often pronounce the voiced dental fricative as /v/ when it’s not at the beginning of a word, for example in brother. However, since starting to learn Welsh, which makes quite a lot of use of dental fricatives, my ability to pronounce them has improved. Combinations of /ð/ and /v/ can also trip me up, as in swyddfa [sʊɨðva].
One aspect of Spanish pronunciation that can be tricky to master is the trilled or rolled r, which is also known as an alveolar trill /r/. This sound is also used in Italian and many other languages. Some people seem convinced that if you can’t already make this sound, it’s impossible to learn.
If you are having trouble with the Spanish r, this blog post might help. It breaks it down into a four step process and explains clearly what to do at each stage. There’s another explanation of how to make this sound here.
Once you’re got those r’s rolling, here’s a tongue twister to practise with:
Erre con Erre Cigarro
Erre con Erre Barril
Rápido corre el carro
Repleto do ferro en el ferrocarril
It is possible, in fact, to learn to make any sound used in any language, even the rolled r, and other tricky sounds like the clicks used in some African languages and the back-of-the-throat sounds of Arabic. It takes a lot of listening and practise. An understanding of the mechanics of how the sounds are produced can help as well.
There are online introductions to phonetics and phonology here and here, and this site shows you the relative positions of the tongue, teeth, lips, etc when pronouncing various sounds.
I can usually manage alveolar trills, though sometimes find the double rr in the middle of words such as carro a bit tricky and I have to slow down to get it right.
Recently while looking for songs in various languages I came across the following sites:
Spanish Songs Translations – a blog featuring songs in Spanish from Spain and Latin America with English translations. There are also videos of the songs being sung.
Russian songs – a collection of traditional Russian, Cossack and Ukrainian songs with videos and background information.
I’ll try and learn some of these and add them to my collection of songs on Omniglot.
Do you know of any similar collections of songs in other languages?
Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Do you know or can you guess which language it is?