The specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication.
Questions tagged [language]
90 questions
133
votes
2 answers
Do the Finnish have a word for getting drunk alone in your underwear?
Urban dictionary (and many other articles on the internet) claim that the Finnish word "kalsarikännit" means:
to drink by yourself at your house in your underwear with no intention of going out
I couldn't find any Finnish source supporting this…
Common Guy
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49
votes
5 answers
Are there 20,000 English words in the average adult's vocabulary?
Is there any consensus as to how many words are in the average adult's vocabulary? Over the years, I've come across various factoids and blurbs online and in magazine articles that have made statements like, "The average adult has a vocabulary of…
Scott Mitchell
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19
votes
3 answers
Does using big words make people sound more professional?
I have read in several places that people use big, fancy, complicated, and little known words (such as Brobdingnagian) to give the impression that they are knowledgeable, smart, and professional. Does that work?
user1936
19
votes
1 answer
Is the "I before E" English spelling rule wrong more than it is right?
There are 923 words that break the "i before e" rule. Only 44 words actually follow that rule.
This is a picture circulating right now, claiming that a huge majority of the words break the "i before e" rule, and that only a few actually follow…
Wertilq
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18
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2 answers
In American Sign Language, does 2022 loosely translate to "bird go peace-peace"?
This Tweet is doing the rounds:
Hearing people are like joke-panicking about the fact that 2022 is pronounced “2020, too”. But like in ASL, 2022 loosely translates to “BIRD go PEACE-PEACE” and that’s honestly the energy I’m going into the new year…
Rebecca J. Stones
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18
votes
1 answer
Do people tend to have a particular language representational system (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic representational)?
One of the primary claims of neuro-linguistic programming is that people possess a particular language system (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic representational).
For example:
For example, a person whose predominant representational system is
…
Casebash
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17
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1 answer
Is the origin of the phrase "suck it up" referring to WWII pilots?
I was reading this New Statesman article and was surprised to read this:
The origin of the phrase “suck it up” is quite gross. Allegedly, it’s what WWII pilots were instructed to do if they vomited into their oxygen masks, to avoid drowning in…
Jeremy French
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12
votes
2 answers
Is “Lord Privy Seal” a technical term in documentary film making?
Richard Dawkins has claimed many times in public speeches, especially in reference to the documentary “Expelled”, that documentary filmmakers use the expression “Lord Privy Seal” in a disparaging manner to describe the amateur’s tendency to…
Timwi
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10
votes
1 answer
Does learning Latin first dramatically improve the ability to learn more languages?
I was taught 2 semesters of cold Spanish, but forgot most of it. Does learning Latin first make learning Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, etc. a whole lot faster or easier as some claim. They all stem from latin of course. Any studies on this?
superherosaves
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8
votes
2 answers
In Sumerian and Akkadian, is the same word used for both ‘priest’ and ‘accountant’?
Johan Norberg in Open: The Story of Human Progress (2020) claims:
In Sumerian and Akkadian the same word is used both for ‘priest’ and ‘accountant’.
Is this true?
user55016
4
votes
0 answers
Is a child raised bilingually more likely to have a language delay?
I remember reading that long ago the American Psychological associations were wary of advising a child to be raised bilingually because it can cause a delay in language learning for the child. As I recall this recommendation was later reconsidered…
Mark Rogers
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4
votes
1 answer
Is this how to say Steph Curry in American sign language
This tweet (retweeted over 2300 times) makes a claim about how to say "Steph Curry" in American sign language:
Is that claim true?
user16797
3
votes
1 answer
Do eskimos have large numbers of words for snow?
The oscar-winning movie Arrival has prompted some new interest the the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that language constrains or enables certain abstract concepts. The idea that an alien language can rewire the brain's way of thinking about time is central…
matt_black
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