Monthly Archives: July 2006

Baseball announcer lingo

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Kevin

Here’s an article (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/baseball/mlb/san_francisco_giants/15062194.htm) [EDIT (3/26/2010): dead link] with some vocabulary used by San Francisco Giants’ commentator Mike Krukow. I like Grab some pine (Go sit on the bench) and brain-dead heaver (“a pitcher without finesse”). I’m not into sports … Continue reading →

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Wigan, U.K., embraces dialect, sells shirts

Posted on July 15, 2006 by Kevin

After being somewhat embarrassed in the past about their regional dialect, the town of Wigan, Greater Manchester, in northwest England will produce tourism merchandise that translates some expressions. Wiganworld has even more Wigan words. Some of the expressions are rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Dialects, LANGUAGE, Language-Sites, Linguistics, Words / Dictionaries | Comments Off

Multilingual texting (for disasters)

Posted on July 14, 2006 by Kevin

Indian company Geneva Software Technologies has created software that can translate text from English into seventy-one other languages in various written character sets and send a translation to any cellular phone or mobile device in the world, no matter what … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language Technology | Comments Off

2006 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest winners

Posted on July 12, 2006 by Kevin

Every year the English department of San Jose State University in California, USA, hosts a contest for delightfully bad opening sentences to possible novels. To fully appreciate their “special qualities,” you have to read the entries slowly and think about … Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy / Humor Media, HUMOR, Humor-Sites | 1 Comment

The Iraqcomm

Posted on July 11, 2006 by Kevin

Iraqcomm, developed by California’s Stanford Research Institute, is two-way translation software to help American soldiers/medics in Iraq communicate with Iraqis on some topics without human translators. Accompanying podcast with translation sample I hope it helps. On the news I’ve seen … Continue reading →

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‘Office’ mates

Posted on July 11, 2006 by Kevin

According to The Guardian, the success of America’s remake of The Office has led to deals for more remakes of British comedies: Saxondale, Nighty Night, and The Mighty Boosh, these latter from Baby Cow Productions (imdb.com listing). Differences in humor/humour … Continue reading →

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Oldest Scottish joke

Posted on July 9, 2006 by Kevin

Sean Connery has co-authored a forthcoming book about Scotland and his life: Connery’s Scotland [EDIT (3/26/2010): Now Being a Scot]. It has a chapter on the history of Scottish comedy, including a 9th-century Scottish joke about an actual Scottish priest … Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy / Humor Media, HUMOR | 1 Comment

Mobile words

Posted on July 8, 2006 by Kevin

You can now get free audio phrase books for your iPod from Coolgorilla (so far German, French, and Greek, with Spanish coming soon). I expect to see tourists in foreign marketplaces frantically pushing buttons on tiny devices the way they … Continue reading →

Posted in English as a Second / Foreign Language, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language Technology, Words / Dictionaries | 1 Comment

BBC comedies going to film

Posted on July 7, 2006 by Kevin

The BBC network has announced that some of their comedies will be turned into films by BBC Films. They don’t mention any specific shows, but this Reuters/Hollywood Reporter article (http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-07-06T021158Z_01_N05319404_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BBC.xml) [EDIT (2/21/2010): dead link] mentions The Office, Extras, and Little … Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy / Humor Media, HUMOR | 1 Comment

New dictionary words (first post)

Posted on July 7, 2006 by Kevin

American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster (THE “Webster’s” before the trademark was lost) announced some new words for the 2006 update of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Editon. They don’t mention this there, but an Associated Press article says that the verb … Continue reading →

Posted in Dialects, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language-Sites, Words / Dictionaries | 1 Comment