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California: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 19:55:37 +0000

California has reported 472 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths as of Monday evening (March 16).


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Louisiana: Latest updates on Coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:06:45 +0000

Here's a look at the number of coronavirus cases in Louisiana and the latest news about the COVID-19 outbreak.


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Alabama: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:16:12 +0000

The case count in Alabama jumped to 36 on Tuesday (March 17).


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Alaska: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:28:53 +0000

Alaska has three confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday (March 16).


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Massachusetts: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:54:52 +0000

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Massachusetts.


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Georgia: Latest updates on Coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:57:51 +0000

Georgia has 146 confirmed cases of COVID-19


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Colorado: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:57:52 +0000

More than 130 people in the state have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and one has died.


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Utah: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:59:27 +0000

Here's a look at the number of coronavirus cases in Utah and the latest news about the COVID-19 outbreak.


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Indiana: Latest updates on Coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:03:43 +0000

Here's a look at the number of coronavirus cases in Indiana and the latest news about the COVID-19 outbreak.


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Arkansas: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:05:00 +0000

Arkansas has reported 22 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday (March 17).


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Mississippi: Latest updates on Coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:05:01 +0000

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Mississippi.


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Ohio: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:09:38 +0000

Here's a look at the number of coronavirus cases in Ohio and the latest news about the COVID-19 outbreak.


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Coronavirus outbreak: Live updates

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:26:55 +0000

Live Science will keep you up to date on all coronavirus news, including how far it has spread, city and local closings and the science behind the virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19.


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Tennessee: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:29:51 +0000

Here's a look at the number of coronavirus cases in Tennessee and the latest news on the COVID-19 outbreak.


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Arizona: Latest updates on coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:53:18 +0000

Arizona has reported 20 positive cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday (March 17).


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New York: Latest updates on Coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 22:36:18 +0000

Here's a look at the number of coronavirus cases in New York and the latest news about the COVID-19 outbreak.


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West Virginia: Latest updates on Coronavirus

By feeds.livescience.com
Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:21:41 +0000

West Virginia has its first confirmed case of coronavirus.


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High Vibe Honey: Week Of 23rd February 2020 + What To Do If You Feel Lonely!

By galadarling.com
Published On :: Sun, 23 Feb 2020 17:24:57 +0000

Do you struggle with feeling lonely or alone? Hilariously, you’re not alone! Loneliness is an epidemic, and in fact, it’s the number one public health crisis. We are increasingly disconnected from one another, while at the same time we have more opportunities to connect than ever. So if you find it hard to make friends, […]

The post High Vibe Honey: Week Of 23rd February 2020 + What To Do If You Feel Lonely! appeared first on Gala Darling.


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How To Celebrate The Pink Moon

By galadarling.com
Published On :: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 15:54:35 +0000

Happy Tuesday, bunny! Tonight is a glorious Full Moon in Libra, known as the Pink Moon. Libra is ruled by Venus, the planet of love and art, so it’s a delicious one to celebrate if you’re at all interested in cultivating more love or creativity in your life! I’m on the cusp of releasing my […]

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100 Things To Be Grateful For Right Now

By galadarling.com
Published On :: Mon, 13 Apr 2020 18:16:27 +0000

Life has not been cancelled. Babies are still being born, flowers are blooming, bees are floating around, people are falling in love, artists are making some of their most incredible work. Your existence is not OVER. The circumstances have changed, that’s all — and it won’t be like this forever. But in case you’ve been […]

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Quarantine Beauty: The Tools And Techniques That Have Me Glowing!

By galadarling.com
Published On :: Sat, 18 Apr 2020 20:22:46 +0000

I don’t know about you, but giving daily make-up a rest has been doing wonders for my skin. But in case we’ve never met before — hi, I’m Gala! — I like to maximize things. My train of thought goes something like, ‘Sure, my skin looks good… But what if I came out of quarantine looking better than […]

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There Has Never Been A Greater Time For Romance Than Right Now!

By galadarling.com
Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 19:41:56 +0000

When things are tricky — see: global pandemic! — it’s easy to get mired in the muck of it all. And absolutely, it is a hard time for many of us. But where we really move into a place of power is when we shift our perspectives by asking ourselves a simple question. That question […]

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Your Top 5 Relationship Questions: Answered!

By galadarling.com
Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:48:53 +0000

In this episode, we talked about… How to cope if you’re feeling uncertain and anxious because you are apart from your partner, as well as how to deal with boredom and frustration because of too much togetherness… What to do if you have a mismatched vision of what you both want… How to stay in […]

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Season Match 4

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Sat, 25 Apr 2020 04:00:00 -0400

Exclusive offer from Giveaway of the Day and MyPlayCity! No third-party advertising and browser add-ons! Try out a challenging mix of quest and match 3 puzzle in the breathtaking game Season Match 4! All you need for a perfect fun is here: nice characters, amazing plot full of unexpected twists and lots of numerous quests. Launch the game and restore the magical kingdoms after the evil Witch Crow's attack in a variety of wonderful match 3 levels!


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Intelligence: Cats

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 04:00:00 -0400

Intelligence: Cats is a puzzle game in which you want to build an image (with cats) so that the picture was like the original image. Move the tiles of the puzzle wisely to collect the correct order of the pieces of images. The essence of the game as in the old game "Fifteen" (15). The game will have 6 levels with a 3x3 field size, as well as 6 other levels with a 4x4 field size. Each level has a different image.The game contains images of twelve cats. Key game features: - 12 different levels - Random generation of tiles at the start of the level - Developing the brain - Achievements!


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Test your knowledge: Cats

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 04:00:00 -0400

Test your knowledge: Cats is a test game that will test your knowledge of different cat breeds. Do you know how to look like a variety of cat breeds? Havana, Somalia, Oriental, Peterbald, Maine Coon, Pixibob and many others. Test yourself with our interesting test. The essence of the game - is to choose one correct answer from four options! Answer all the questions correctly and get 48 beautiful achievements!Don't forget to share your result in the comments! Key game features: - Allows you to test your knowledge of feline - For children and adults - Helps to remember and learn how to look and called certain breeds of cats. - 48 achievements


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Puzzles for smart: Cats

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 04:00:00 -0400

Puzzles for smart: Cats is a fairly simple, educational game. Collect the puzzle of kittens from separate fragments of the picture. The game of puzzles will seem to your child very fascinating as he will gradually achieve that he wants to see rather. It will take the child's attention for a long time, and you will be pleased to watch his actions. This educational game will allow you to spend time with your baby. For fans of the popular puzzles of different complexity. From simple puzzles with the image of cats and kittens to complex. At any age and level of play. In this section, selected puzzles with cats. White, gray and black kittens. One cat or several cats. Collect a puzzle with the image of these small animals. Key game features: - The game has 12 levels of difficulty - The game has 12 different images of kittens - Unlimited puzzle time - Suitable for all ages - Achievements!


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Plague Universe: Strategy RPG Bundle Is Now Available For Xbox

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 04:19:53 +0000

  Product Info: Developer: Arcade Distillery Publisher: Arcade Distillery Website: Plague Universe Twitter: @LucBernard / @ArcadeDistiller / @PlagueUniverse


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Ultimate Ski Jumping 2020 Is Now Available For Xbox One

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 16:28:39 +0000

Enjoy the two arcade experiences from Blue Sunset Games now available in one bundle:   Product Info: Developer: Blue Sunset Games Publisher: Blue Sunset Games Website: Ultimate Ski Jumping 2020 Twitter: @BlueSunsetGames


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NASCAR Heat 5 Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 16:50:13 +0000

NOTE: You may pre-download this game, but it will not be playable until the release date/time: 07/10/2019 (check the product page for release date/time in your region). Get three days early access when you purchase the Gold Edition. Product Info: Developer: Motorsport Games Publisher: 704 Games Company Website: NASCAR Heat 5 Twitter: @704Games / @MSportgames / @NASCARHeat


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Oregon Deputy Fire Marshal Receives National Award for Home Fire Sprinkler Advocacy

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: 2020-04-20T13:45:00Z

NFPA’s  Fire Sprinkler Initiative and the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC) are pleased to announce that Chase Browning from the Medford Fire Department, is the recipient of the 2019 Bringing Safety Home Award.   The award recognizes


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Darkest Of Days At DOJ

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 19:22:03 +0000

The corrupt, unprecedented abandonment of the prosecution of Mike Flynn by the Barr Justice Department – despite having secured a...


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A Catastrophe for the DOJ

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 15:19:22 +0000

From TPM Reader ANON … Your brief write-up is true as far as it goes, but doesn’t even scratch the...


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EK Releases the Long-Awaited Reflection Distro Plate for Lian LI O11D XL

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 14:20:50 +0000

The EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11D XL D5 PWM D-RGB is a custom water cooling reservoir, routing, and pump solution that seamlessly fits into the front of the case. This waterway is also equipped with a physical flow indicator that gives a nice visual representation of the pump's speed.

The post EK Releases the Long-Awaited Reflection Distro Plate for Lian LI O11D XL appeared first on ThinkComputers.org.


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How amateur satellite trackers are keeping an 'eye' on objects around the Earth

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Sun, 03 May 2020 13:38:28 +0000

Around the planet, a loosely knit but closely woven band of amateurs monitor the whereabouts of satellites — be they secretive spacecraft, rocket stages, orbital debris or lost space probes.


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On This Day in Space! May 4, 2011: 1st official 'Star Wars' Day celebration

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 12:03:06 +0000

On May 4, 2011, the first organized "Star Wars" Day celebration happened in Toronto. See how it happened in our On This Day in Space video series!


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Scientists keep debunking 'monster black hole' discovery. So, what's the deal with binary system LB1?

By feedproxy.google.com
Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 16:00:15 +0000

As scientists continue to weigh in, one thing is clear: the "monster black hole" discovered in 2019 doesn't exist.


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The Very Early Perimenopause: What We Can Learn from Dr. Jerilynn Prior’s Research

By www.ourbodiesourselves.org
Published On :: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 14:49:19 +0000

by Nina Coslov

In my early 40s, I started noticing changes in my body. A once great sleeper, I was now waking at 2 a.m. – often with lots of energy and sometimes with anxiety. I’d be awake for about 3 hours before I could get back to sleep. Around the same time, premenstrual breast tenderness returned — something I hadn’t experienced since my 20s, before I had children. Not long after, I’d notice from time to time a pervasive edginess, a revving — an energetic ... More

The post The Very Early Perimenopause: What We Can Learn from Dr. Jerilynn Prior’s Research appeared first on Our Bodies Ourselves.


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Review: Linguistics: why it matters by Geoffrey Pullum

By separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Published On :: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 22:43:00 +0000

It's National Writing Day (for another 48 minutes) and I've reali{s/z}ed that I haven't written anything but emails and tweets today. So a blog post is needed. But a short one. Luckily, I have a very short book to review.

The book is the linguistic installation of Polity Press's 'why it matters' series, and it's by the exceptionally clear Geoff Pullum. Here come the full disclosures: I know Geoff and I got this book for free. But I wouldn't say nice things about the book if I didn't mean them. (I'd just save myself the trouble of writing a blog post about it.)

So, since it's by the exceptionally clear Geoff Pullum, this is an exceptionally clear book. It's just 120-something pages, divided into five themed chapters on why linguistics matters: for what it tells us about what makes us human, about how sentences work, how meaning, thought and language intertwine, how it uncovers social relations, and how it might help machines understand humans. I particularly admire Geoff's ability to write short sentences about complex topics. (That's lesson 1 in making things exceptionally clear—complex topics aren't helped by grammatically complex sentences!) The real value of the book is in the examples that show how linguistics does matter—for expanding human understanding, for uncovering and undoing prejudices, and in applications that can help people.

Here's the bit that I most enthusiastically underlined:
[T]o a large extent the importance of linguistics has turned out to lie not so much in the results it has achieved (those evolve over time and are often overturned or contradicted) but in the change in the general view of what's important enough to study. It lies in our moral evolution of our perception of what we should be looking at and what we should value. 
That leads into a discussion of the shift from thinking of signed languages as gesticulations to their recognition as complex languages that are as languagey as any other human languages. But I think it could have introduced many of the sections. I do believe that linguistics has done a lot of good in the world in the past 50 or so years, and a lot of that is about valuing people and their languages. Though the book is only long enough for a few examples of that, they're great examples.

The ideal audience for this book? I think it would make an excellent present from any students studying (or planning to study) linguistics to their parents. When your parents' friends ask them "What's your kid up to?" and they say "Studying Linguistics", the conversation usually DIES. Give them the gift of knowing how to talk up your fascinating studies! It'd also be great for anyone considering studying linguistics, or who just thinks: "That sounds like an interesting subject, but I don't quite know what it's for." (It's mostly not about translation or language teaching, by the way.)

Geoff blogged about writing the book, which you can read here.
Here's a link to the publisher's site. It's only giving me the UK buying links, but I hope that if you approach it from another country you'll get the appropriate page!


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grammar is relationships

By separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Published On :: Fri, 09 Aug 2019 22:22:00 +0000


This is not a post about American versus British English. I hope you’ll indulge me. It's come out of some Twitter conversations this afternoon.

It started when I read this sentence in James Pennebaker’s book The Secret Life of Pronouns:
Function words require social skills to use properly.

And I wondered how it had got(ten) past a copyeditor. So I did a Twitter poll to see if other people were happy with the sentence. The poll looked like this: 


So, 25% of more than 300 people thought it sounded fine. 75% felt there was something weird about it. Given how I phrased the question, it's possible that the 75% had 100 different reasons for thinking it weird. But considering some of the tweet-replies I had, I know that at least some people had the same reaction that I did. 

The problem with the sentence for me is that there is no reasonable subject for the verb to use. Compare it to this sentence with the same kinds of parts in the same order:  
 The law requires every driver to drive safely.

In that case, the subject of the infinitive to drive is every driver—every driver is to drive safely. So, what you've got is:
  • Main verb: requires
  • Subject of main verb: the law
  • Object of main verb = infinitive clause: every driver to drive safely

But that doesn't work for Pennebaker's sentence. Social skills to use properly is not a complete clause because (a) there's no object of the verb to use (to use what properly?), and (b) social skills is in a position where it could be the subject of to use (as in the driving example), but it's not.  The sentence could be "fixed" in a number of ways that involve making it clearer that function words are the things being used.
  1. Make the infinitive into a passive, so it's clear that function words is the object of use: Function words require social skills to be used properly.
  2. Move use closer to function words so that it's clear how they relate to each other: To use function words properly requires social skills. (Or Using function words properly requires social skills.)
  3. Move function words closer to use:  It takes social skills to use function words properly.
Number 1 is a little ambiguous (it sounds a bit like function words are bossing social skills around), so I'd prefer 2 or 3, where it's really clear that function words is the object of use. 

But there are sentences with require that do work more like Pennebaker's sentence:
Crops require water to grow.

Here, it's not the water that's growing, it's the crops. So it doesn't work like the driving sentence—the object of require is not water to grow. In both sentences, I've put the object of require in blue, so you can see that the sentences have different structures. Another way that you can tell they're different structures is that you can replace to with in order to in one and not the other and can rephrase one with that and no to, but not the other.
The law requires every passenger in order to drive safely.
Crops require water in order to grow.
 The law requires that every driver drive safely. [or drives if you're not a subjunctive user]

Crops require that water grow.

So one of the reasons I wanted to write this post is to make this big point:
Grammar isn't just where words go in a sentence, it's how they relate to each other.
The fact that the crops sentence is the same shape as Pennebaker's sentence doesn't mean that Pennebaker's sentence is grammatical, because it still has the problem that there is no subject for to use. Notice that it can't be rephrased in either of the ways that the other two can:
Function words require social skills in order to use properly
Function words require that social skills use properly
The last possibility is to interpret use as being in middle voice (as opposed to active or passive voice). This is when the verb acts kind of like a passive (where what would have been the active object becomes the subject), but doesn't get the passive be +past participle form. English has some verbs that work this way.
I cut the bread easily. (active voice: subject is the cutter)
The bread is cut easily. (passive voice: subject is what's cut)
The bread cuts easily. (middle voice: subject is what's cut)
Grammar Girl has a podcast and post on middle voice in English if you're interested. English has more of a 'middlish' voice than a 'middle', as we're really limited in how we can use it and it doesn't have a special verb form, as it does in some other languages. As Grammar Girl notes:
[English] middle-voice sentences usually include some adverbial meaning, negation, or a modal verb, or a combination of the three. “The spearheads didn’t cast very well” has both negation (“didn’t”) and an adverb phrase (“very well”). “The screw screwed in more easily than I thought it would” has the adverb phrase “more easily than I thought it would.”
While Pennebaker's sentence does have an adverb, properly, it's not one that I'm super-comfortable using with a middle construction (?The bread cuts properly), but maybe some people would like it better than I do. (Proper is used more as an adjective and adverb of intensity in some colloquial BrEs than in my AmE.)

So, are the 25% who like the sentence reading it as having middle voice? I'm not totally convinced, because I think that the English middle doesn't do well with fancier sentence constructions as with require:
?That bread requires a good knife to cut easily.
?That bread requires a steady hand to cut easily.
Putting an object between requires and to makes it confusing—is it the bread or the knife/hand that is cutting easily? If it's the knife or hand, then the sentence would usually require an it to stand for the bread: The bread requires a good knife to cut it easily. 

So, anyhow, when I put the Pennebaker sentence up, some people wondered if it was like this dialect phenomenon, found in some parts of the US (particularly western Pennsylvania) and some parts of the UK (particularly Scotland):
The car needs washed.
It was natural for them to make that connection because both Pennebaker's sentence and the needs washed sentence would work in other dialects if the final verb were made passive. But note that what needs to be added to the sentences to create a passive is different in the two cases. In needs washed, the washed is in the past participle needed for a passive. But in Pennebaker's sentence the infinitive verb is not in any way in passive form.
The car needs to be washed.
The function words require social skills to be used properly.

So, I asked the 25% who accepted the sentence to write back and tell me where they were from. And it turns out they're from anywhere.... New Jersey, California, New England, southeastern US, eastern and western Canada, up and down the UK, the Caribbean. That makes it look like it's not a dialect feature. 

An interesting thing about the 25%, though, was that a few got in touch to say: "I clicked that the sentence was fine for me, but once I started thinking about it, I was less sure."

After the dialect idea didn't pan out, I joked that the next step was to give personality tests to people who didn't like the sentence. And while it was a joke, I think there is probably something to the idea  that some people read for meaning and don't get the grammatical 'clang' that I got because getting the meaning is good enough. If they can get the meaning without a deep look at the grammar, the grammar is irrelevant. I'd wonder if people who get a 'clang' with this sentence are also more likely to also notice misplaced modifiers and dangling participles. A lot of us who notice these things notice them because we've been trained in looking at language analytically, or we're just very literal readers. Had I heard Pennebaker's sentence, I probably wouldn't have noticed that there was no workable subject for the verb use. I would have just understood it and gone merrily on my way. But in reading, CLANG.


Anyhow, the main reason I wanted to blog this was to make that point that Grammar is how words relate to each other. That two sentences with the same shape can be working in very different ways. And on that note, I'll leave you with an experiment that Carol Chomsky did way back when. She gave children a doll with a blindfold over its eyes and asked them if this sentence was true—and if not, to make the sentence true.
The doll is easy to see. 
Notice how that sentence doesn't work like this sentence:
The doll is eager to see.
In the first, the doll is being seen. We can paraphrase it as The doll is easy for me to see. In the second, the doll is who will do the seeing. We can't paraphrase it as The doll is eager for me to see, because it means The doll is eager for the doll to see. The words easy and eager determine how we interpret the relations of the other words in the sentence. In linguistic terms, they license different relationships in the sentence. (In these sentences it's adjectives doing that relationship-determining, but in most sentences, it's the verbs. In our requires sentences above, we can see that require licenses a range of possible sentence structures—words do that too.)

Understanding that a blindfolded doll is easy to see is something that most kids don't master till they're into their school years. When asked to make the doll easy to see, the younger kids take off the doll's blindfold. This shows us that kids take a while to fully take account of the grammar, not just the words, in sentences.

Hope you didn't mind my little grammatical foray...
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Book Week 2019: David Shariatmadari's Don't Believe a Word

By separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Published On :: Fri, 29 Nov 2019 00:05:00 +0000

Welcome to the third review post of Book Week 2019. In the intro to Book Week 2019, I explain what I'm doing this week. In the end, there will be four posts. I thought there would be five, but one of the books has (orig. BrE) gone missing. Having had a day off yesterday, I will also have a day off tomorrow, so the final review will appear during the weekend. Probably.

Anyhow, today's book is:

Don't believe a word
the surprising truth about language

by David Shariatmadari
Norton, 2019 (N America)
W&N, 2019 (UK/RoW)


David Shariatmadari writes for the Guardian, often about language, and is one of the sensible journalists on the topic. The number of sensible journalists writing about language has really shot up in the past decade, and judging from reading their books, this is in part because of increasingly clear, public-facing work by academic linguists. (Yay, academic linguists!) But in Shariatmadari's case, the journalist is a linguist: he has a BA and MA in the subject. And it shows—in the best possible way. 

The book is a familiar genre: busting widely held language myths. If you've read books in this genre before, you probably don't need these myths busted. You probably know that linguistic change is natural, that the border between language and dialect is unfindable, that apes haven't really learned sign languages, and that no form of language is inherently superior to another. Nevertheless, you may learn something new, since Shariatmadari's tastes for linguistic research and theories is not always on the same wavelength as some other books directed at such a general audience.

Once again, I'm reviewing with a partial view of the book (this is the practical law of Book Week 2019). In this case, I've read chapters 1, 5, and 9 and skimmed through other bits. The introductory chapter gives us a bit of insight into Shariatmadari's conversion to full-blown linguist, as a reluctant student of Arabic who was quickly converted to admiration for the language and to the study of language as an insight into humanity. "It's not hyperbole to say that linguistics is the universal social science", he writes. "It intrudes into almost every area of knowledge."
UK cover

I chose to read chapter 5 because I'd had the pleasure of hearing him talk about its topic at a student conference recently: the popularity of "untranslatable word" lists. Goodness knows, I've contributed to them. What I liked about the talk was his detective work on the words themselves—some of the words and definitions presented in lists of 'untranslatables' are practically fictional. And yet, those of us who don't speak the language in question often eat up these lists because of our ethnocentric need to exotici{s/z}e others. This leads inevitably to discussion of linguistic relativism—the notion that the language you speak affects the way you think—and the bad, old (so-called) evidence for it and the newer evidence for something much subtler. The chapter then goes in a direction I wasn't expecting: introducing Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM), an interesting (but far from universally taught) approach to meaning that uses about 65 semantic building blocks to represent and compare meanings across languages. NSM adherents make the case that few, if any, words are truly equivalent across languages. But while any word in one language may have no single-word equivalent in another language, that doesn't mean those words are untranslatable. It just means that translating them can be a delicate and complicated thing.

US cover
The final chapter (9) takes the opposite view to David Adger's Language Unlimited (in my last review), and argues that the hierarchical (and human-specific) nature of linguistic structure need not be the product of an innate Universal Grammar, but instead could arise from the complexity of the system involved and humans' advanced social cognition. While Adger had a whole book for his argument, Shariatmadari has 30-odd pages, and so it's not really fair to compare them in terms of the depth of their argumentation, but still worth reading the latter to get a sense of how linguists and psychologists are arguing about these things.

Shariatmadari is a clear and engaging writer, and includes a good range of references and a glossary of linguistic terminology. If you know someone who still believes some language myths, this might be a good present for them. (Though in my experience, people don't actually like getting presents that threaten their worldview. I still do it, because I care more about myth-busting writers earning royalties than I care about linguistic chauvinists getting presents they want.) It would also make an excellent gift for A-level English and language students (and teachers) and others who might be future linguists. After they read it, send them my way. I love having myth-busted students.


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dicing with death

By separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Published On :: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 17:31:00 +0000

Previously on this blog, I've discussed whether BrE and AmE are different in their singular for dice. Have a look at that blog post if that's what you're interested in.

This one is about the phrase to dice with death, meaning essentially, to take risks with one's life or safety. It's one of those things that I didn't reali{s/z}e was BrE until another American pointed it out to me. (Apologies if you were that uncredited American—I can no longer find the correspondence.)

The OED says the use of dice to mean 'risk' is especially associated with motor sports (a phrase that itself seems to be more BrE than AmE). It is not about chopping up death into cubes, but about 'gambling with one's life' (a phrasing that can be used in either language). Though Merriam-Webster includes this use of dice with an example from Newsweek, it's nowhere to be seen in the American portion of the GloWBE corpus.

The phrase raised two questions for me:
  • is it dicing with death or dicing with Death?
    I imagined the latter, that it's playing a game of dice with the Grim Reaper. But none of the corpus examples treat death as a proper name, so perhaps I'm alone in that.
  • what's the relationship to dancing with death? 
Since not a lot of people use dice as an intransitive verb to mean 'to play dice', I was imagining that dance with death might have arisen from a misunderstanding of dice with death—an eggcorn, if you will.  And I think there's some evidence to back that up:


In this Google Books Ngram chart (click on it for details), the blue line shows dicing with death is already in existence in BrE during (BrE) the War. The green line is American use of it, intermingling early on with dancing with death. Dancing with death eventually catches up with dicing in AmE, while also rising in BrE, perhaps getting more currency as people have more distance from the 'risk' use of dice as a verb.

For what it's worth, it's slightly easier to find capital-D Death with dance than with dice, but it's far more common to find it lower-case.


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