language

Prolix proverbs

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When I was in high school—so, many years ago (how many is left as an exercise for the reader)—my English teacher, Ms. Reinhardt, gave us a set of puzzles: familiar sayings, aphorisms, and clichés in unfamiliar guise. Amazingly enough, I kept my copy all these years, and just ran across it yesterday evening while searching for something else. I don’t know what their origin is—I don’t think she made them up—but wherever they’re from, they’re cool brain-teasers. (And if anyone does know the source, let me know so I can credit them properly.) How many of them can you figure out?

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"Our language did not evolve for scientific or metaphysical purposes, but just to help us make do and get along in the real world

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"Our language did not evolve for scientific or metaphysical purposes, but just to help us make do and get along in the real world."@cultura#philosophy #language #cultura #Wittgenstein commonwealmagazine.org/wittgen

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Nazi crimes against cuisine 20th Century History

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Time to change the English language

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:paw:
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Time to change the English language 20th Century History

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Time to change the English language

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i have no words, and i must define

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All language is weird, but I sometimes wonder if English isn't the weirdest 🤔

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A handwritten note on a marble countertop. "How do you console an English teacher?" "There, their, they're..."

All language is weird, but I sometimes wonder if English isn't the weirdest 🤔

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Suck it linguists I'll make my own grammar rolls 😜😂

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Post by keva Here's my first attempt at synonym rolls, with attached picture of cinnamon rolls. Reply by BrazilFlair Just like grammar used to make.

Suck it linguists I'll make my own grammar rolls 😜😂

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[Microblog] RE: mastodon

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RE: mastodon.social/@HadasWeiss/11But it should be spelt Q because everyone likes a short queue... 😁 @linguistics @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop @writingcommunity @writingbooks @joinin#LinguisticMemes #Meme #Memes #Linguistics #Language #Words #Humor #Humour #Funny

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"START LEARNING ENGLISH" Early Modern Period (~1600 AD) 19th Century History 20th Century History

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I made myself a tiny cheatsheet for learning Shavian, in Inkscape

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A table of Shavian characters, next to English words. The parts of the words represented by the Shavian character are bolded. The rows are alternating shades of pink, and the columns have borders in between. The headings are an even darker pink. There is a section for short characters, some common shorthand words, and a demonstration of how proper names and acronyms should be handled.

I made myself a tiny cheatsheet for learning Shavian, in Inkscape. It's loosely based on one I found in the Shavian subreddit, except (probably) much worse than that one. I just really wanted something in a smaller size, for easily carrying around. These are designed for 2in×3.5in double-sided business cards. I have .SVGs too but I dunno where to post those. @shavian@lemmy.world #Shavian #English #language #spelling #englishspellingreform

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Hua Shengdun goes hard af as a translated name, honestly Early Modern Period (~1600 AD) 19th Century History 20th Century History

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What do the Greeks in Age of Empires 2 actually say?

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I wish I could talk to and understand animals.

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FUTO Keyboard Now Has Japanese!

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The English words nobody can explain - RobWords Educational Historical

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ANGLISH: English without the 'foreign' bits - Robwords Other

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From earthquakes to cyberattacks, caution runs deep in Japan — even in its grammar

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From earthquakes to cyberattacks, caution runs deep in Japan — even in its grammar. Learn how language reflects the nation’s “better-safe-than-sorry” mindset. japantimes.co.jp/life/2025/11/ #life #language #nihongo #vocabulary #cybersecurity #fraud #asahi

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[Microblog] Good morning

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Nature’s Quilt "A lush tapestry of blooming flowers fills the frame with exuberant color and texture. The scene is dense and vibrant, like a living quilt stitched from petals and leaves. Dominant hues include soft pinks, creamy whites, and deep magentas, each blossom nestled among a sea of rich green foliage. The flowers vary in shape—some with wide, open faces like cheerful suns, others with layered petals that curl inward like whispered secrets. The greenery is abundant and healthy, with leaves that glisten slightly, suggesting morning dew or recent watering. The composition feels wild yet intentional, as if nature arranged itself for a portrait. There’s a sense of movement in the way the blossoms lean and cluster, some reaching upward, others bowing gently toward the earth. The light is soft and even, enhancing the saturation of the colors without casting harsh shadows. In the bottom right corner, a watermark reads “Swede’s Photography,” subtly anchoring the image with a personal signature—like a whispered name at the end of a poem." - Microsoft Copilot

Good morning. 🌸💮🪷

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"Bruh it looks cool, that's all I care about" Medieval Period (~1000 AD) Early Modern Period (~1600 AD)

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333 555 88 33 66 8

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333 555 88 33 66 8
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Checkmate Grammar, Brain wins

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Tumblr post by ace-nyctophyle and replies: any noun can become a verb if you don’t care enough This point is invalid unless you use an example in your sentence I CAN SENTENCE HOW I WANT THANK BEAUTIFUL I like to velociraptor around my house at 2 in the morning. My headache makes me want to clothesline into a wall why do these make some semblance of sense Because brains don't brain logically Brains do brain logically! But when english doesn't logic englishly, brain brains by itself to logic that english !

Checkmate Grammar, Brain wins... 😂

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A little jealous of Arabic speakers for that, ngl Medieval Period (~1000 AD) Early Modern Period (~1600 AD)

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A little jealous of Arabic speakers for that, ngl
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Olivier Mannoni : « Le fascisme commence par le langage » #shorts #Mediapart

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"Speak English only" "Don't speak in Filipino"

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Have you guys experienced these policies?

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Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow is a lot cooler, but it's missing ÅÄÖ the black metal letters

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Post by Keep Calm and Carrion How did "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" become the typical sentence that contains all letters of the alphabet and not "sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow" which is objectively a million times cooler.

Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow is a lot cooler, but it's missing ÅÄÖ the black metal letters... 😂

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Hindi, Greek and English all come from a single ancient language – here’s how we know

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Map showing the Neolithic expansion from the 7th to 5th millennia BCE. This image is a map illustrating the Neolithic expansion in Europe from the 7th to the 5th millennia BCE. It traces the spread of early agricultural societies and technologies from the Near East and southeastern Europe across the continent. Approximate dates (6300 BC, 5000 BC, 4500 BC, 4000 BC) are labeled along the expansion paths, showing a gradual progression of Neolithic culture across Europe. The background in light blue represents seas, while landmasses are shown in white, highlighting the geographic reach of the Neolithic revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_homeland#/media/File:Neolithic_expansion.svg

Hindi, Greek and English all come from a single ancient language – here’s how we know

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the pronunciation of HTML according to a bunch of fediverse people

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# Art historian Donato Loia is talking to us on the latest episode of Plain Reading!

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#Art historian Donato Loia is talking to us on the latest episode of Plain Reading! #Music, #language, #attention, the #universal: we're covering it all. And oh yes, #Books !

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The 11 Official Languages of South Africa

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The 11 Official Languages of South Africa
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Yet another reason why you should use #Firefox

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Lingonaut - A free language learning app currently in development

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I'm really rooting for this project; it has a lot of promise. It's crowd-sourced and plans to be ad-free.

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