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Month: January 2017
What words do you overuse?
In fact. And other such parenthetical elaborates. I like to construct arguments in my prose, and in fact is my wood glue… Answered 2017-01-22 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-words-do-you-overuse/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
What is the most people that you have spoken to?
As a lecturer, 120: first year linguistics. As a conference presenter: maybe 300, on a plenary panel. After the first 20, it’s just numbers. 🙂 Answered 2017-01-22 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-is-the-most-people-that-you-have-spoken-to/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
If you could learn to speak 12 languages (including your native language), which ones would you choose?
Ah, the question asks that I do it for only practical reasons? Erk. That’s… regrettable. I’ll have to jettison languages I know (Lojban, Klingon) and would like to know in theory (Irish). The first six, I know. (Well, kinda, as Clarissa Lohr and Kat Rectenwald can attest.) English. Because I am Australian, and because English, […]
Would you post a map of the administrative divisions of your country you’ve (a) lived in (b) visited (c) passed through?
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/14d7mr/here_is_a_map_of_every_us_county_ive_ever_been_to/ Magenta = lived, blue = visited, green = been through. Greece: Lived in Lasithi prefecture (down south) for four years; lived in Attica and Thessalonica prefectures for a couple of months apiece. Did a tour of Crete, a few days each in Iraklion, Rethymon, Hania. Went to Greek dialectology conferences (natch) in Patras and […]
What does your handwriting look like?
I have already posted Nick Nicholas’ answer to What does your Greek handwriting look like? There was a time long ago when I could write legibly. No longer. In tribute to Ollie Bendon, via A spelling reform proposal I was rather fond of by Zeibura S. Kathau on Csak lét, I wrote a quick and […]
What do languages that use other scripts call each letter of the Latin alphabet?
Greek uses French names for Latin letters, because French was the prestige Latin alphabet language: “Vitamini Ah, Vitamini Beh, Vitamini Seh” (to use fauxnetics). Or least, they did. You will of course hear a lot more English names of Latin letters now in Athens, I expect. Answered 2017-01-18 [Originally posted on http://quora.com/What-do-languages-that-use-other-scripts-call-each-letter-of-the-Latin-alphabet/answer/Nick-Nicholas-5]
Is it true that Eisenhower didn’t like Nixon?
Please don’t make me reread Ambrose; it’s a big book. But yes. Repeated snubs by Ike, about Nixon making VP at all, about being renominated as VP, about actually supporting Nixon’s presidential run. Culminating in the famous “shit or get off the pot” outburst by Nixon. Repeated jabs that Nixon had no executive experience, so […]
Could someone produce a rank for Cyprus based on size among European islands?
Let’s take List of islands by area – Wikipedia, and edit in the European islands. Plus or Minus. Great Britain. 209k [math]km^2[/math] Iceland 101k [math]km^2[/math] Ireland 84k [math]km^2[/math] Severny Island (Novaya Zemlya) 47k [math]km^2[/math] Spitsbergen 39k [math]km^2[/math] Yuzhny Island (Novaya Zemlya) 33k [math]km^2[/math] Sicily 26k [math]km^2[/math] Sardinia 24k [math]km^2[/math] Nordaustlandet 14k [math]km^2[/math] Cyprus 9k [math]km^2[/math] […]
Gramsci: Prison Notebooks
Prison Notebooks – Wikipedia I like using the word hegemony. I like it a lot. I even made reference here recently to the hegemony of meat pies in Australia. So I’m chatting to Janna today. Janna is not on this forum. And Janna says, “If you want to know about hegemony, you’ve just got to […]
What’s your MBTI personality type?
You know, I did the 16personalities test online the other day, to see what all the fuss is about. I still don’t get what all the fuss is about. I feel like I’d like someone to read my coffee cup and look over my palm, and tell me what it’s supposed to mean. FWIW: ISTP: […]