language owl

Lingthusiasm Episode 25: Every word is a real word

squishable, blobfish, aaarggghh, gubernatorial, apple lovers, ain’t, tronc, wug, toast, toast, toast, toast, toast.

All of these are words that someone, somewhere has asserted aren’t real words – or maybe aren’t even words at all. But we don’t point at a chair or a tree and assert that it’s not a word. Of course it’s not! That would be absurd. So why, then, do people feel called to question the wordhood of actual words?  

In this episode of the funnest* podcast about linguistics, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch take you on a tour through what’s really going on when people say that a word isn’t a word. (*Funnest is definitely a real word, and so are all the others.)

We’re heading into our second anniversary! That’s two whole years of linguistics enthusiasm delivered right to your ears every month (twice a month for patrons). To celebrate, we want to share the show with more people! Most people find podcasts through word of mouth, and there are people out there who would be totally into a lively deep-dive into how language works, they just don’t know it exists yet. They need you to save them from their dreary, un-lingthusiastic lives! 

At our anniversary last year, we thanked over 100 people for their recs, and this year we want to thank even more! Here’s what to do: post about why you like Lingthusiasm on social media (or link to your rec elsewhere, such as a blog or podcast), make sure to tag us in your rec so we can find it, and your name will live on in perpetuity on our special second anniversary thank you post! 

This month’s bonus episode was about bringing up bilingual babies! We get enthusiastic about various ways to raise children who speak more than one language when you’re stuck in a mostly-monolingual society: the one-parent, one language method, immersion schools, and speaking different languages at home and in the public sphere. Support Lingthusiasm on Patreon to gain access to this and 19 previous bonus episodes. 

In November, we’re doing two liveshows! We’ll be in Sydney at GiantDwarf on Monday the 12th of November, and State Library of Victoria in Melbourne on Friday the 16th of November. Both events will be Auslan interpreted. For more details and how to book tickets check out our liveshow page.

We also have new merch! Alongside the Space Babies, new children’s clothing and new colours for the IPA scarves, we also have IPA ties! Check out our Merch page for more details.

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

blobfish (Wikipedia)

impact (noun) (Etymonline)

Erin McKean on dictionaries and maps

whelm (Etymonline)

Lingthusiasm Episode 8: People who make dictionaries (review of WORD BY WORD by Kory Stamper)

Tronc (Wikipedia)

Gubernatorial

Lingthusiasm Episode 16:  Learning parts of words -  Morphemes and the wug test

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening, and stay tuned for a transcript of this episode on the Lingthusiasm website. To received an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm advertising-free by supporting our Patreon. Being a patron gives you access to bonus content and lets you help decide on Lingthusiasm topics.

Lingthusiasm is on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

gu- in french is cognate with english w- like guerre/war (or middle english warre)

ê denotes a lost es like in bête/beast (old french beste)

so

chleb is polish for bread and it’s cognate with russian and belarusian хлеб, czech chleba and lots of more slavic stuff

here’s the cool bit it was borrowed in the proto-slavic period from the gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃 as *xlěbъ so it’s actually cognate with the word for bread in the extinct gothic language and with everything else that comes from proto-germanic *hlaibaz including but not limited to english loaf, german Laib, swedish and danish lev, norwegian leiv,

AND

through more borrowing, finnish and estonian leipä and leib, and samic languages such as northern sámi láibi, southern sámi laejpie and a whole lot more

We were learning numbers, dates, and ages, so my teacher just started asking me a bunch of questions like “So how old are your parents? What is your dad’s birthday? What is your mom’s birthday?”

nebula of astronomers

fricative of linguists

swarm of entomologists

monad of philosophers

bestiary of medievalists

particle accelerator of physicists

fistfight of historians

dirt hole of archaeologists

To my best friend who decided it was a good idea to be born a three-hour bus ride and two-hour flight away how rude

nie no jk dziękuję za przenocowanie mnie kc najmocniej

♫ (I don’t usually listen to rap but I love this)

autobus (m) — bus

bagaż (m) — luggage

bawić się — to have fun

brak snu (m) — lack of sleep

brzydki szloch (m) — ugly sobbing

burza (f) — storm

chęć na życie (f) — will to live

ciepła chwila (f) — warm moment

cieszyć się — to be glad

czekać (po-) na (+acc) — to wait for

daleko — far away

dzielić (od-) — to separate

estetyczny — aesthetic

herbata (f) — tea

huśtawka (f) — swing

jechać (po-) — to go by vehicle; drive

kawiarnia (f) — café

kochać — to love (can be platonic)

kumpel (m pers; coll) — buddy

lądować (wy-) — to land

lot (m) — flight

lotnisko (n) — airport

mem (m) — meme

metro (n) — underground; subway

mieć nadzieję — to hope

mieścić się (z-) w walizce — to fit into the suitcase

niewygodny (adj); niewygodnie (adv) — uncomfortable

nocna rozmowa (f) — late-night talk

nocny spacer / spacer nocą (m) — night-walk

odległość (f) — distance

oglądać (obejrzeć) smutne filmy — to watch sad films

opóźnienie o dwie godziny (: (n) — two-hour delay (:

park (m) — park

pieniądze (m pl) — money

Skończyły mi się pieniądze. — I’ve run out of money.

pierogi (m pl; jeden pieróg) — pierogi(es)

pierogarnia (f) — pierogi place; pierogi restaurant

piękny — beautiful

poczekalnia (f) — waiting area/room

podróż (f) — journey

podróżować — to travel

pole (n) — field

popłakiwać (popłakać) się — to cry a little

…ze szczęścia — …from happiness

prezent (m) — present

prysznic (m) — shower

Jak działa wasz prysznic? — How does your shower work?

Nie ogarniam waszego prysznica. — I can’t get my head around your shower.

przegryw (m pers; coll) — loser; failure

przyjaciel (m pers); przyjaciółka (f) — (close) friend

przyjaźń (f) — (close) friendship

radość (f) — joy

ronić (u-) łzy — to shed tears

rozkosz(ny) (f) — bliss(ful)

rozładowywać (rozładować) — to die (of a phone battery for example)

samolot (m) — (air-/aero)plane

spędzać (spędzić) czas razem — to spend time together

spotkanie (n) — meet-up

śmiać się (za-) — to laugh

…z siebie — …at each other / oneself

śmieć (m) — trash

śpiewać (za-) — to sing

tęsknić (za-) za (+inst) — to miss (someone)

tramwaj (m) — tram

tulić (przy-) — to hug

…i nie puszczać (puścić; +gen) — …and not let go

…na śmierć — …to death

uśmiechać się (uśmiechnąć) — to smile

wakacje (f pl) — (the) holidays

walka na poduszki (f) — pillow fight

wracać (wrócić) — to return

wykończony — exhausted

zakupy (m pl) — shopping

zamawiać (zamówić) jedzenie po polsku — to order food in Polish

zarywać (zarwać) noc — to pull an all-nighter

zdjęcie (n) — photo

zdrowe śniadanie (n) — healthy breakfast

zwiedzać (zwiedzić) — to sightsee; visit

żegnać się (po-) z (+inst) — to say goodbye to

Person: then study

Minced oaths are words and expressions that you can use instead of actual swear words. They’re usually funny or weird, and in Polish, not many people use them as actual substitutes for swear words.

w piętkę goniony

lit. “gonić w piętkę” means “to lose logical reasoning and be inconsistent”, so “w piętkę goniony” is literally a person like that

means: a whiffler

pies to trącał / pies cię trącał

lit. a dog nudged it / a dog nudged you

used to emphasize you don’t care about something or someone

niech cię kura kopnie / obyś cudze dzieci uczył

lit. get kicked by a hen / I hope you’ll be teaching strangers’ kids

used to wish bad things to someone

oby ci koza zdechła

lit. I hope your goat dies

used when someone is successful and you’re jealous of them

niech to kule biją / żeby to gęsi zdeptały / niech to gęś kopnie

lit. it should get beaten up by bullets* / geese should trample it / it should get kicked by a goose

used to express annoyance and lack of acceptance

*I assumed it was bullets but I couldn’t find the etymology of the phrase anywhere, so it might be wrong. It could also be crutches.

w mordę jeża

lit. in a hedgehog’s face

used to express surprise, disappointment, or frustration

kurka wodna / kurza stopa / motyla noga / kurczę blade / psiakość / psiakrew / psiamać /  jasny gwint

lit. common moorhen (type of bird) / hen’s foot / butterfly’s leg / pale chicken / dog’s bone / dog’s blood / dog’s mother / bright thread

used as a “normal” swear word eg. when you accidentally prick yourself with a needle (kinda like “oh snap”)

do jasnej ciasnej / do jasnej Anielki / do diaska** / niech to szlag (trafi)*** / niech to dunder świśnie****

lit. to the light tight* / to light Anielka* / to the devil / - / it should get hit by a lightning****

used to express hopelessness, helplessness, or impatience, annoyance, discouragement

*again, I’m not sure about the etymology of the two first expressions, so it’s hard to translate them. I assume, since Anielka is a feminine name that comes from the word “anioł” (angel), it might have something to do with that

**“diasek” is a very old word for the devil, not used anymore

***watch out with the word “szlag”. in this expression it’s szlag but many people write it as “szlak”, which is a grammatical error. “szlag” doesn’t really have a meaning itself, “szlak” however is “a trail”

****“dunder” is also an old, not-anymore-used, way to say “lightning”. “świsnąć” means “to zing” but the meaning in this context seems clear

________

There is now a publicly accessible signbank for American Sign Language (ASL)!

You can search for ASL signs by using English key words, and if you create an account you can get more information about each of the signs. This video from the site gives some more information:

The ASL Signbank joins similar websites for other signed languages, including:

The Auslan Signbank

The BSL (British Sign Language) Signbank

The Signbank is essentially a dictionary of signs for each of the languages. Each website was set up by a different team at a different time, and have slightly different layouts and functions.

You can see that there are some signs that are similar across languages, e.g. the sign for tree in ASL and BSL looks similar to each other, but different to Auslan, while the sign for dog is different in all three (ASL, BSL, Auslan).

Just as any other dictionary won’t teach you about how to stick words together to make sentences, these Signbanks won’t teach you the grammar of each of these languages - but if you’re learning ASL, BSL or Auslan they’re a great way to look up vocabulary!

Reference