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| Monday, December 28th, 2009 |
linguaphiles
[ daniil_ognok ]
|
2:58p |
Armenian etymology question
Hello fellow Linguaphiles, I was told that the Armenian for thank you was shnorhakalutyun (transcribed), and that perhaps it was a loanword or something like that. Does anyone know its etymology and what it means literally in the language it was presumably borrowed from? |
linguaphiles
[ gorkabear ]
|
12:53p |
HOYGAN!
Hello, linguaphiles
If you like Spanish, just for fun, I suggest you visit today http://meneame.net and try to read it. Why? Today, at least in Spain, it's the Innocent Saints day (Día de los Santos Inocentes)- our equivalent for April Fool's day. The forementioned webpage's joke consists in "translating" all its main webpage into a Spanish internet lingo called "HOYGAN".
A lot of Spanish-speaking internet users make constant spelling mistakes confusing homophone words and misplacing and misusing H, LL, Y, J, G, V, B, S, C, Z... Since most of these users also write in capital letters, this "lingo" is called "HOYGAN", meaning that most of these posts should have started with "Oigan". The process was made using a filter that simply makes every possible spelling mistake when writing in Spanish.
Meneame is the Spanish equivalent of services such as digg, so you will find news and links to certain blogs. So if you want to read the good version of what you're reading, just click on the "Comentarios" and you will see the change. Because of today's date, you'll find also a plethora of false news.
Edit: The joke is finished. Read about it here: http://meneame.net/story/el-nuevo-filtro-super-hoygan |
applyingtograd
[ b_italia ]
|
1:43a |
GRE question!
All of these GRE questions got me thinking about my own GRE problem:
I'm retaking the GRE a little less than 1 week before the application deadline. I would have booked my second try well in advance to the deadline, but there were no seats available. Now obviously the scores for this retake wont be sent to me before the app deadline.
I already sent the school a photocopy of my 1st GRE scores since that's what they require and have confirmed that the 1st scores arrived.
But they look at the "highest" scores and I'm pretty sure I'm going to do better on the retake (I'm wayyyy to embarassed to tell you my original score!) So what should I do? And should I not bother retaking the exam if they aren't going to consider my 2nd scores because they'll get the results way after the deadline? In other words, I don't think they're going to accept the scores & the copy of the scores a whole MONTH after the deadline passed. (It took a month to get the scores the 1st time so I'm estimating the same.)
If you've been in this situation or can offer some advice, please reply! Thanks!
|
| Sunday, December 27th, 2009 |
books
[ gwailowrite ]
|
9:03p |
The Separating Sickness, Mai Ho'oka'awale - review
X-POST: book_worm, bookish, booksarelove, readplease & the reading rooms
Title: The Separating Sickness, Mai Ho'oka'awale: Interviews with Exiled Leprosy Patients at Kalaupapa, Hawai'i Author: Ted Gugelyk, Milton Bloombaum Genre: Non-fiction, Hawaiiana, Hawaiian History
URL: Amazon
Price: US$ 15.95
Summary: Interviews with Exiled Leprosy Patients at Kalaupapa, Hawaii. Patients tell about having bounties placed on them, being captured, quarantined and imprisoned for life as leprosy patients. Published for the Ma'i Ho'oka'awale Foundation. 16 pages of color photographs.
My Review: This is an important work, not only because it helps convey what life was like at Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka'i for the "patients" interred there, but mostly because it records the feelings, stories, perseverance and strength of character of the residents of the one-time "leprosy settlement."
( Read more... ) |
books
[ circebe ]
|
8:55p |
Has anyone else read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle? What did you think of it? Have you applied anything to your life from the book? What changes have you noticed? |
linguaphiles
[ larvatus ]
|
6:26p |
an oxonian entanglement
Not wishing to affront the chaste sensibilities of this community, I have confined my comments on the draft OED entry for the verb felch to this posting on my blog. Your comments and inquiries are most welcome there. |
applyingtograd
[ jillbower ]
|
7:39p |
What is the best method to CRAM for the GRE?
For my program, it's very rare to find a school/program that asks for GRE scores, so I never bothered taking the exam or studying for it. Recently, I came across a program that I like a lot, but they do require the GRE, so I booked the exam. I don't have a lot of time to study for it (literally 3 days!) so I was wondering if anyone can offer any advice as to how to "cram" for this exam. I realize this is something that is supposed to take months of review, but I'd like to give it a try anyway. My professor who is writing my LOR is the one who recommended I apply to this certain school and swears she never studied when she took the GRE so I should be "okay" but I don't know about that.... |
| Monday, December 28th, 2009 |
linguaphiles
[ past_midnite ]
|
8:24a |
Hi there, I need help please - I need to call somebody in Japan. Can you please translate the following into romanji, please? I can only read hiragana/katakana, not kanji. Thanks so much in advance!! Here goes: 1. Sorry that I have to call you this early. 2. Has the parcel I sent arrived? 3. Is Koji in? 4. I tried to call him, but he didn't pick up his phone. 5. I really, really need to talk to him. Please help me. Those would be all. Thanks so much once again! |
| Sunday, December 27th, 2009 |
applyingtograd
[ endxgame ]
|
6:39p |
Best GRE Prep Book
So I am going to using the big-boxstore gift card my grandfather gave me to go out and purchase a GRE prep book and I was wondering which one people would recomend. Here are some details on what I am looking for: - I won't be writing until next spring, but I am looking to browse it a bit this semester before I hit the studying hard this summer just so I can evaluate what I need to improve on - I am in the humanities and I think I'll do reasonably well on the verbal but need a serious refresher on even basic math (My goal is basically 500+ on math, 700+ on verbal) - I am looking for one that can help a lot with the techniques of standardized test writing as I am from a Canadian province which did not have any standardized tests and I am in an MA program in Canada which didn't require the GRE. - Along similar lines, I am looking for one that comes with lots of practice tests, ideally computerized tests. I am a mac user, so mac friendly software is a plus (although I can access a PC if need be). Thoughts? |
applyingtograd
[ roger_st ]
|
4:07p |
Is this going to be a problem (LORs)?
One of the professors who I asked to write me a LOR is moving to another state to teach at another university as of Spring '10 semester (next week, in January). On the online app back in November, I entered the information of her current position/university (which again as of January 2010 will no longer be her position). I'm afraid that they will try to contact her at the contact information I listed on the application and they wont be able to get a hold of her, or will find out that this person does not work there, and then they will think I lied about that. The email address I entered on my online apps is an AOL email so it's not connected to any university, so that if they need to contact her through email they would be able to. Also as of right now she did not write the LOR (at least to my knowledge) and therefore might use her new university letterhead when she writes it. I'm not sure if this will look suspicious to the adcoms. Not sure what to do here if either scenario happens. |
applyingtograd
[ mattsmodernlife ]
|
11:12a |
Financial Aid Application, Credit Card Debt?
On the financial aid application for one of my schools, it asks about my current assets and liabilities, including credit card debt. I'm not sure what to put - I'm currently carrying a small balance (a couple hundred dollars, incidentally ALL from grad school admissions expenses) and I always pay most of it off every month. Would they care about that? Is it weird that they would ask about that? Current Mood:  determinedCurrent Music: Portishead - Deep Water |
linguaphiles
[ sans_nuages ]
|
11:05a |
spanish pronunciation 'll'
I realize that < ll > is pronounced differently in different countries where Spanish is spoken. I'm wondering whether -- within any given dialect -- it is always pronounced the same, no matter where it is in a word, or whether even within a given dialect < ll > might be pronounced differently from word to word (ie if the ll in 'calle' might be pronounced differently than the ll in 'llueve'). I'm traveling to (Buenos Aires) Argentina soon so I'm most curious about that dialect, but any information would be great. Thanks in advance! Happy holidays! |
linguaphiles
[ theunixgeek ]
|
5:31a |
How to Advance in Mandarin Chinese?
I've been studying Mandarin Chinese for two and a half years now through the Integrated Chinese series, but I don't feel as if I'm progressing very quickly in the language. I feel as if, after all this time, I should be able to read a newspaper article and be able to get at least the gist of it, but here my skills are stuck in recognizing only the characters every now and then and not actually understanding what's being said. Does anyone have any tips on how to progress more quickly? Any recommendations for learning materials, perhaps? |
applyingtograd
[ karrie_o ]
|
2:18a |
|
| Saturday, December 26th, 2009 |
books
[ jawastew ]
|
8:13p |
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
 Tally Youngblood’s sacrifice from Uglies has turned her into a beautiful, tall, fun-loving, disease-free, and anti-infection masterpiece. In short, she’s a Pretty. Like all pretties, she’s forgotten a lot of what most her life was like as an Ugly beyond the normal dumb “tricks” Uglies do for sport and, of course, being ugly. She drinks champagne, parties all night, stays up until the wee hours of the morning, and wakes up just in time to get ready for the next evening shindig. The only problem is Tally’s also forgotten why she became pretty. When a mysterious stranger arrives with a message from her past, Tally struggles to remember what brought her to New Pretty Town in the first place. Who’s Croy and what does he have to do with David--a name and face that rises out of her past like a ghost--or, for that matter, with her new best friend, Shay, or boyfriend, Zane? What do the terrifying Specials want with her and why are she and her friends now being closely monitored? ( Read the rest! ) |
applyingtograd
[ star_n_hearts ]
|
11:05p |
|
linguaphiles
[ true_romancer ]
|
8:03p |
German question?
I'm hoping this hasn't been asked before (this is my first post to this community, and I'm a little nervous,) but does anyone here know the difference between the German verbs 'zerbrechen' and 'brechen' (I'm not sure but I think I've seen this with zerfallen and fallen as well)? |
applyingtograd
[ i_like_snow ]
|
7:40p |
Todays Poll
Poll #1503823 A poll for Today-check all that apply by clicking the boxes.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 31 Did you think about any of these things yesterday on Christmas Day? Check all that apply . |
linguaphiles
[ dustthouart ]
|
4:08p |
"blah blah blah" words
In doing some informal rehearsing the other day, we were all saying things similar to this: "First I say, 'In the name of our Lord, I, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gordoom, promise that I will one day blah blah blah, by the faith that is in me.' And then you say, 'In the name of our Lord, I, dustthouart, in the form and manner wherein blah blah blah, by the faith that is in me.' Then the priest..." Also found in this example from the BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice:Mrs. Bennet: "'My dear friend,' there now! 'Dine with Louisa and me today... la-di-da, la-di-da, la-di-da... as the gentlemen are to dine with the officers.' - Oh, that's unlucky! Still you must go and make what you can out of it." Another use, commonly encountered in linguistic pursuits, is in filler for templates such as... actually I can't think of any in English right this moment, but I can think of some in Chinese, such as 以什麼什麼為主. In writing this would usually be 以......為主. Which is "take... as primary" literally, and would be said aloud as "take what what as primary." In English I would say "something something" for this kind of filler. In both languages, the "what what" and "something something" are said quickly and kind of blur together. Another one of these "speech replacement words" in English is "yadda yadda yadda", from (I assume) Yiddish. 1. Is there an actual linguistic term for this phenomenon? 2. What words or phrases do people use in other languages for this purpose? Current Mood:  curious |
linguaphiles
[ ciroccoj ]
|
4:35p |
X-mas?
OK, I've been feeling kind of dumb about this, and wondering if I'm alone: until this year I had never heard that any Christians had a problem with using "X-mas" as opposed to "Christmas". Apparently it is seen as "taking Christ out of Christmas". Am I alone in my cluelessness? Or are there places where it's not an issue? One explanation I read was that it only became a problem as fewer and fewer people were taught classical languages at school, but that's been the case for decades, so I'm not sure why it would suddenly be a big deal in the last ten years or so. Which is apparently the case, though like I said, it's news to me. ? ETA: I should add that I do know that X-mas has been used for centuries, and that X is the symbol for the Greek letter Chi, first letter of Christ's name. What I was asking had more to do with how long it's been considered offensive and anti-Christian, presumably by people who have no idea that the X actually refers to Christ. Current Mood: curious |
applyingtograd
[ togey ]
|
3:53p |
dress code?
So I'm doing the whole work-for-1-yr-before-going-to-grad-schoo l thing.. I have interviews at Rockefeller University and NIH for possible research positions. I've always been under the impression that sciencey jobs don't require as strict of a dress code as other jobs so I wanted to go with a nice pair of slacks with a blouse+jacket combo. What do you guys think? My college's career office said (not to me, but just generally) that wearing pants might make a negative impression, but I'm terrified of the cold and a skirt seems so flimsy in northeast weather! Thanks in advance and happy holidays! |
books
[ kashkool ]
|
10:07p |
My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (New Release 2010)
My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story
Video: English Arabic Description The frontline in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Gaza is constantly reported as a place of violence and terror. Ramzy Baroud's memoir explores the daily lives of the people in that turbulent region: the complex human beings -- revolutionaries, mothers and fathers, lovers, and comedians -- who make Gaza so much more than just a disputed territory. At the heart of Baroud's tale is the story of his father who, driven out of his village to a refugee camp, took up arms to fight the occupation while trying to raise a family. Ramzy Baroud: "This is a book about Gaza. It is also a book about my family, and in particular my father, how they moved from living as Palestinian farmers, growing their own crops, to fleeing for their lives and ending up in a Gaza refugee camp. Throughout the book I spell out the context of the Zionist invasion, and interweave my family story within the wider history of my people and the destruction of their old ways of life. So far we have many books from Israelis, some sympathetic and others not, regarding the events that led to the creation of the State of Israel, and its later expansion. But there is really very little that tells the story from those of us who lost everything. I am proud to tell you the story of my father; he symbolizes the fire of resistance in every Palestinian heart; the resistance of all human beings who are oppressed, in this case by the Zionists of Israel and by the imperial forces that support them. The writing of this book has been for me a passion, yet it is none the less an accurate reflection that has kept the Palestinian resistance alive for so long over such great odds." |
applyingtograd
[ m_g_ga ]
|
2:31p |
What do you make of this situation I had with an Academic Advisor?
I am a senior citizen and I recently made an appointment with an academic advisor at a local university because I'm interested in taking advantage of a policy there that gives a nice big discount for senior citizens like myself who want to take classes!
Anyway I ended up having an appointment with a bubbly 22-23 year old who didn't seem to be that much of a help. She started by asking me simple questions such as what my BA is in, and I told her that I earned a BA in Art History. She then asked me when I earned it and I told her in the 70s. She then asked me more simple questions such as the kind of classes I was interested in taking, so I mentioned to her mostly in the arts and my goal is to earn a MA in an arts-related field. The next question she asked me was whether or not I knew how to use a computer. I told her yes. And then she behaved like she did not believe me and started asking me silly questions such as if I knew what a "mouse" was and if I knew how to search for information on the Internet. I answered yes. After that, she went on and on about the different programs in the "Social Sciences" department and then concluded by telling me I should definitely consider majoring in "Gerontology" (the study of aging). She told me a success story of a woman "around my age" who just graduated from this program after being out of school for 30+ years. She then wrote down the names of a few faculty who I should contact in the department, and told me that my next step is to set up appointments with them. At this point she again "tested" me on whether I knew how to use e-mail to contact them, and spent about 5 minutes "walking-me through" how to send an email even though I told her I send dozens of emails per day. I was very confused about the major she "chose" for me. She obviously did not hear a word I said when I was discussing my interests in visual art, music, art history, etc, so why did she suggest a major in the study of aging? Is it because I am a senior?
I called to request another appointment with another advisor, but they told me I have been assigned to this specific advisor because all the other advisors for prospective students are completely booked and the only way to see another one is if there is a legitimate reason. I did not explain to them the situation, as I did not want to embarrass the young lady. Should I go in for another appointment with her and explain to her once more about my interests? Or should I figure out what I want to do without the help of an advisor?
|
_scientists_
[ rotte_volf ]
|
9:44p |
Energy Revolution and dead-end economic model.
 It is obviously to everyone now that energetics needs the revolutionary changes. Energetics based on nonrenewable energy resources (oil, coal, gas) have to be replaced, sooner or later, by energy based on the inexhaustible sources. Although two-thirds of the world's electricity is still generated by thermal power stations working on fossil fuels, which are to a great extent responsible for the adverse environmental effects (global warming, ozone depletion, etc.), almost all developed countries are actively elaborating alternative energy sources. The solar and wind energy are considered by many as these sources. Indeed, these powers are reliable and highly desired renewable energy sources. But in spite of all this they have significant limitations. Such alternative power plants can't work at night and in case of lack of winds. In order to radically change the structure of power generation in favor of renewable resources we need a stable energy source that has great energy potential.And that source really exists. |
linguaphiles
[ pony_rocks ]
|
1:47p |
Elementary, dear W.
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates them - and good wishes to all the rest! There's something I have been thinking of recently and I wonder if you could please help me find the right answer. Over the past years, I've noticed that characters in many English/American movies (or literature) are called Mr./Mrs., which is followed by the first letter of their name, often in a humorous way, for example in the movie 1776:: T. Jefferson: "But I burn, Mr. A!" J. Adams: "So do I, Mr. J!" Also, I noticed it also appears when a one character harbours romantical feelings for another one, such as Ms. Lovett who would sometimes call Todd Sweeney "Mr.T". Such form of address is certainly not popular in my native language (Czech) and even seems slightly weird to me, yet I really find it interesting, so can anybody please tell me a bit more about it? Are there more situations when you use it? Does it have a history? Does its origin come from some particular book or something else? Thanks! |
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