links.lmorchard.com - #language

We are going to kill “unalive” - Anil Dash

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 23:49:24 +0000

If you are a 20th century relic like me, it is incumbent upon you to remind the generation that grew up inside the algorithm that another world is possible, and that we know this because we lived it. We were able to style a MySpace page in any way that we wanted; the code for LiveJournal was entirely open source so there was no part of the algorithm that was unknowable. A blog like the one you’re reading right now could be made by anyone, and put up for pennies, and nobody could stop it from being read by millions of people. (And that last one? It’s still possible.)

Tags: #language #metablogging #social #speech

Itadakimasu: A Word You Say to the Food, Not the Cook

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:26:14 +0000

So the literal shape of “itadakimasu” is not “thank you.” It is closer to: “I humbly receive.” And the thing being received is the food. Not the labor of the cook — that has its own phrase, said afterward, to the person. “Itadakimasu,” said before, with the eyes on the plate, is addressed downward and outward, to what is about to become part of you.

Tags: #food #gratitude #language

The Long Linguistic Journey to 'Dagnabbit' - Atlas Obscura

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:43:38 +0000

“Taboo deformation is one possible way for a word to change its meaning,” says Andrew Byrd, a professor of linguistics at the University of Kentucky who specializes in Indo-European languages. Basically, we are scared of the true names of certain beings or concepts, because to use them might mean we summon them, which we don’t want, or anger them, which we definitely don’t want, or simply make other humans mad at us, which is slightly less bad but still not ideal. The true name is powerful, and we normal humans can’t handle that power. So we avoid using the true name, but sometimes we still need to communicate with each other about those beings or concepts. That means we have to figure out a way to talk about something without using the actual word for it.

Tags: #folklore #language #magic #mythology

The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake | The Verge

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 19:49:18 +0000

But this theory is seriously scientifically flawed. LLMs are simply tools that emulate the communicative function of language, not the separate and distinct cognitive process of thinking and reasoning, no matter how many data centers we build.

Tags: #cogsci #genai #language #llms

On Incomputable Language: An Essay on AI – Eruditorum Press

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 20:05:23 +0000

The truth, however, is that consciousness is a wonder beyond its own comprehension. Perhaps the universe is nothing more than cold, calculable matter—that, as Galileo posited, “the laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics.” But the laws of consciousness are written in language. Indeed, I suspect that rather than language being a development of consciousness it is a precondition of it. More specifically, I would suggest that consciousness and thought emerge from the idea of representation—that it is when we developed the idea that something can be a metaphor for, imitation of, or reference to another thing that we began to think. I would go so far as to say that, in fact, this miraculous imprecision is what thought is.

Tags: #ai #language #llms #turing #writing

Remove Spook From Your Vocabulary Today - Horror Press

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:31:40 +0000

Tags: #halloween #horror #language #racism

WIPP Exhibit: Message to 12,000 A.D.

Sat, 02 Dec 2017 17:44:02 +0000

This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here. This place is a message and part of a system of messages. Pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

Tags: #culture #future #imported:pinboard #language #nuclear

Emoji rebus puzzles

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:27:04 +0000

Using pictures to represent words dates back to Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chinese pictographs. But in the 1500s in France, a particular format of picture writing called the rebus was invented. A rebus is a word puzzle which uses pictures to represent words (or parts of words). The rebus became very popular in Europe and elsewhere.

Tags: #emoji #imported:pinboard #language #mobile #rebus

Clay / Project / Periodic Table of Swearing, Modern Toss / Period Table of Swearing

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:21:00 +0000

Clay produced the interactive Periodic Table of Swearing for Modern Toss. It was built in our Hoxton Street studio during our summer holidays. It's constructed from over 100 buttons, CNC'ed and laser cut MDF, direct to media printing, over 100 meters of cabling, over 300 soldered joints and a whole lot of swearing!

Tags: #awesome #design #interactive #language #swearing #to:tumblr #want #wishlist

How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:28:13 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Republican Governors Association met this week in Florida to give GOP state executives a chance to rejuvenate, strategize and team-build. But during a plenary session on Wednesday, one question kept coming up: How can Republicans do a better job of talking about Occupy Wall Street?

Tags: #language #occupy #ows #republicans

BBC News - Coding - the new Latin

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:00:34 +0000

The campaign to boost the teaching of computer skills - particularly coding - in schools is gathering force.

Tags: #children #education #language #latin #literacy #tech

Mark Bernstein: Bitter End

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:01:43 +0000

"It turns out that the “bitter end” of a rope is the end you secure or bend to the bitts of a ship, while the other end secures the anchor. If you are hoping to anchor in very deep water, you pay out more and more line and hope that the anchor will hit the sea floor. Instead, your line runs out all the way to the bitter end, and then you are up a creek without a paddle. Thanks, W.H. Smyth, The Sailor’s Word Book, 1867."

Tags: #bitterend #idioms #language

Hypocorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:03:59 +0000

"A hypocorism, or hypochorisma (noun): hypocoristic (adj.) (from Greek ὑποκορίζεσθαι hypokorizesthai, "to use child-talk"[1]) is a lesser form of the given name used in more intimate situations as a nickname, term of endearment, or pet name"

Tags: #culture #hypocorism #language #names #nicknames

Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief: Scientific American

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:33:45 +0000

"Dropping the F-bomb or other expletives may not only be an expression of agony, but also a means to alleviate it"

Tags: #brain #health #language #pain #psychology #research #science #swearing

The sentences of Sarah Palin, diagrammed. - By Kitty Burns Florey - Slate Magazine

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:24:19 +0000

"I had to give up. This sentence is not for diagramming lightweights. If there's anyone out there who can kick this sucker into line, I'd be delighted to hear from you. To me, it's not English—it's a collection of words strung together to elicit a reaction, floating ands and prepositional phrases ("with that vote of the American people") be damned. It requires not a diagram but a selection of push buttons."

Tags: #funny #grammar #language #linguistics #palin #politics #writing