Author: Rauf Aliev

November 11 2018, 21:19

There is a word that I write very often and almost always with a mistake. Then I notice it and correct it. But I have not been able to write it correctly right away for many years. It is the translation into English of the word “pronunciation”. Now, after figuring it out, I will write it correctly from the first try. Because I know that a trisyllabic abbreviation is to blame 🙂

Also, we recently figured out why Americans don’t immediately understand what kind of ‘fountains’ we are talking about when we mention the name of our residential complex (Fountains of Mclean). It turns out, it’s not ‘fountains,’ but ‘fan-tins’, and additionally, not ‘mclean’ but ‘mclane’ 🙂

#English

November 09 2018, 17:37

It’s like a conspiracy theory

“On The Beatles’ first British album, Please Please Me, 57% of the songs contained these and other personal pronouns, 64% of the songs on their second album With the Beatles, and 79% on their third, A Hard Day’s Night. For Please Please Me, the site recorded 325 personal pronouns within 19 minutes and 30 seconds of music, averaging about one pronoun every 3.6 seconds.”


preview

The Beatles’ Hit-Making Secret Ingredient? Personal Pronouns
https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/the-beatles-hit-making-secret-ingredient-personal-pronouns/

November 06 2018, 09:48

I wondered why in English redheads are called redhead, not orangehead, or something like that; after all, there is far less red than there is orange or even yellow. It turns out that the term originated when red encompassed shades from orange to red, and there simply wasn’t a word for orange — it emerged with the arrival of oranges. And consider the red fox, which is also “red,” surprisingly enough.

Why didn’t it occur to the English to name the orange color after the color of pumpkins or carrots as “Pumpkin” or “Carrot”? Why wait until oranges were introduced to England? It’s quite simple. In fact, both pumpkins and carrots come in colors other than orange. As we know, pumpkins can be yellow, green, and bright orange, while carrots were originally not orange but purple. As for oranges, they are exclusively orange, hence the word “orange” became the perfect name for the color.

However, in English, there is another word meaning “red-haired” — ginger — derived from the word “ginger”, which is another puzzle, since ginger root is golden-yellow, not orange. Logically, it might make more sense to call blondes ginger, not redheads.