How To Improve Immigrants’ English

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 20, 2014 - Comments (5)
Category: Languages, Foreign Customs, 1940s, Asia, Europe

Latin Valediction

Back in 1978, Lidia Mostovy was chosen to deliver the valedictory address at the 99th commencement of Frank H. Morrell High School, so she decided to give it in Latin. Her speech began: "Olim Alexander Magnus dixit: 'Meis parentibus vitam debeo, meis magistris, vitam bonam.'"

She explained that she "wanted to add dignity to the graduation exercises and... draw attention to the high school's Latin program. 'A lot of people ask why take Latin — you're not going to use it. So now I will.'"

Source: The Ukrainian Weekly - June 25, 1978 (page 11).

Since I took Latin throughout high school, and even participated in our high school's Latin play, I'm sympathetic to what she did. And I guess it probably wasn't any more or less boring than any other high school valediction, just because no one could understand it.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Aug 05, 2014 - Comments (12)
Category: Education, Languages, 1970s

English for Dirty Houses

I'm never inviting this woman to my house again!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 07, 2014 - Comments (5)
Category: Domestic, Education, Languages

Fox in Socks Audio

From a 1966 vinyl record, featuring the voice of Robby the Robot.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 06, 2014 - Comments (3)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Languages, Pop Art, Surrealism, Books, 1960s

The Backwards Multilingual Singing Career of Jeanette

Because the USA market for music is so huge, singers from other countries are always trying to break in, abandoning their native languages for English.

Maurice Chevalier. Charles Aznavour. Julio Iglesias. Shakira. The list goes on and on.

What's stranger is someone who abandons a career singing in native English to become a star abroad.

Such was the case of Jeanette.

Born in the UK and raised in America, she tried to be a folkie.



But failing that, she moved to Europe and became a great success, singing mostly in Spanish.



Of course, looking like a beautiful flower child didn't hurt!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 22, 2013 - Comments (10)
Category: Languages, Music, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s, 1970s, Europe, North America

Kou Kou

こうこう | koukou from takashi ohashi on Vimeo.

Here is something akin to fireworks for the 4th.

"KOU KOU is a visual work based on an abstract animation synchronized with a song comprising the unique syllabic sounds of the Japanese language, without actually using any full words."

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 04, 2013 - Comments (1)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Languages, Video, Avant Garde, Asia

Prison Sign Language, 1941

Back in the 1940s, talking wasn't allowed in the dining room of the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison. So the convicts developed a primitive sign language to communicate what food they wanted:

• Upheld hand: more bread, please
• Upraised fist: more potatoes
• Upheld knife, fork and spoon: more stew
• Washing motion with the hand: water
• Thumb up and index finger straight out: coffee or tea
• Open and close the hand as if milking a cow: milk, please!
• Hand flat and passed back and forth across the plate: gravy
• Fork held up: meat
• Thumb thrust through the fingers: vinegar
• Two fingers thrust out: salt and pepper
• If the person at the end of the table beats the table with his spoon: dessert is on the way

[Milwaukee Sentinel — Nov 16, 1941]

Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 14, 2013 - Comments (6)
Category: Languages, Prisons, 1940s

Honorificabilitudinitatibus

Honorificabilitudinitatibus, in Latin, means "the state of being able to achieve honours," but it's also an English word and is unusual for a number of reasons. First, according to wikipedia it's "the longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels."

Second, it's used exactly once by Shakespeare, in Love's Labour's Lost:


But this single use is considered highly significant by those who believe Francis Bacon wrote all of Shakespeare's works, since honorificabilitudinitatibus happens to be an anagram for "hi ludi, F. Baconis nati, tuiti orbi," which in Latin means "these plays, F. Bacon's offspring, are preserved for the world."

Watch the video below if you need help pronouncing it.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 30, 2012 - Comments (1)
Category: Languages

Korean-speaking Elephant

Koshik the elephant has taught himself to imitate the words of his Korean trainers. He can say five words: "annyong" ("hello"), "anja" ("sit down"), "aniya" ("no"), "nuo" ("lie down"), and "choah" ("good"). He does this by sticking his trunk in his mouth. [eurekalert]

My parents had a welsh terrier who would say "Out" whenever he wanted to go out. Though the way he said it was more like "Oooouuuuuuuttttttt." He would only make the sound when he wanted to go out, and if you said the word 'out' he would go nuts, because he knew what it meant.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 06, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Languages

In the future, we’ll all be speaking Super Cockney

Almost 87 years have passed since this professor made his prediction. Is there any chance it might still come true?
From the St. Petersburg Evening Independent, Nov. 25, 1924.

Posted By: Alex - Sat May 26, 2012 - Comments (3)
Category: Futurism, Languages