Easy And Interesting Language Learning

Look up your English!

2006-12-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Here comes a great collection of English dictionaries! If you are eager to look up the word, clerily understand its meaning, its etymology, its usage and, perhaps, translation: here is a list right for you:

http://www.wordsmyth.net/ - glossary, thesaurus, spelled-like search mechanism, games and quizes and a lot more.

http://www.askoxford.com/?view=uk - one of the best and most authentic English dictionaries. Doesn't the name Oxford stand for itself?

http://www.allwords.com/ - for those who want meaning and translation.

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx - A good American dictionary, translations provided.

http://www.onelook.com/ - definitions and translations, as you wish.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ - phrasal verbs, idioms, learner's dictionary and many more. Isn't name Cambridge quite equal to Oxford?

http://dictionary.reference.com/ - really everything one can want from language. Just check it up.

http://www.clrn.org/weblinks/details.cfm?id=1465 - Meriam-Webster Dicitonary. One of the most acknowledged.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages/germanic.html#english - Another good collection of different dictionaries.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary - new experimental dictionary, intends to inculde everything. Has, in particular, very interesting information, but may not contain the word you are looking for.

So, what you have to do now? Just LOOK!

About the grass roots roots

2006-12-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever thought about grass roots groups? Or perhaps their etymlogy? For the former I advice you to read a topic-of-the-day article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18510 . And for those who wnat to know the latter I am here to help you!

If you will look through Oxford Dictionaries, you will probably find nothing but

"grass roots

• plural noun the most basic level of an activity or organization."

Indeed, this isn't much. What about the roots of grass roots? We can easily understand the underlying metaphor - people, a folk are viewed as grass, and grass roots is it very beginning - the most basic level.

But what about the etymology?

The word grass comes from Old English græs, gærs which meant "herb, plant, grass,", whic actually derived from ProtoGermanic grasan (compare Old Norsk, German, Gothic gras), from Proto-Indoeuropean root *ghros- "young shoot, sprout," from base *gro-/*gre- "that which grows" (compare Latin gramen "grass"); it is akin to "grow" and "green". The term "Grass widow" (1528) was originally "discarded mistress" (compare Germanic Strohwitwe, literal "straw-widow"), probably in allusion to casual bedding. Sense of "married woman whose husband is absent" is from 1846.
look at this: "[G]rasse wydowes ... be yet as seuerall as a barbours chayre and neuer take but one at onys." [More, 1528] (adopted from etymonline.com)

Did you know that...

2006-12-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

Was reading this: http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/12/whats_the_most_.html and some ideas came to my mind...

Did you know that there are courses offered as podcasts? Today lots of Universities offer a big variety of courses - they differ from Kant's Epistemology to The Arabic Circle and Macroeconomic Analysis!!! (You can see University Podcast collection at the http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2006/10/free_university_1.html ). But doesn't anything trouble you? Just think about the nature of podcasts! What science should they be applied to? Of course, the answer is clear - linguistics, and, of course, particular language learning! The idea of iTunes, of podcasting seems to be made for that! But there is no course, as far as I see... May be I am mistaking and there are some? But it seems there are none and why won't some University do it at last?..

p.s. If anyone knows about the existence of such courses, let me know!

Text And Its Pragmatic

2006-12-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

Would you personally like to click the new Microsoft page design links? (Look it here: http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx ) . For me, it seems ugly. We have to ask ourselves a simple linguistic question: How does design interact with text? I think that here programmists and designers didn't think about pragamatics! This text doesn't do good with the design. Your opinions?

Number 1 Amazing Guitarist!

2006-12-15T06:32:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry but language blog is to be converted for one post into a guitar blog. It is a MUST for everybody who loves guiatar! Personally I happen to be a guitar lover and, who Spanish say Me gusta muchísimo la guitarra! (It means I extremely love guitar - I really have to post something really linguistic :) ). Watch this and be satisfied!

2006-12-15T04:29:00.000-08:00

An amazing-language article!

Look at this wonderful article: http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060710_mm_joints_crack.html

It contains so many interesting English words! The fact is that words like Knuckle, tendon, ligament ,pivot, reabsorb and so on are not widely know! An average schoolboy (or take an average schoolgirl, makes the same) doesn't know them! I advice you to read this article about your joints and to decide honestly if all words and meanings are familiar to you!

Spanish Lesson 1

2006-12-14T06:38:00.000-08:00

Spanish Word Of The Day

This section is dedicated to those who want to learn Spanish. So, let's begin! The first two main verbs – ser and estar. They are both used to describe a situation, fact, or something else of a general characteristic. The verb ser is equal to English to be, and estar is equal to English to be in continuous form, that means – ser is used to express constant qualities, and estar – temporary. For example, I am a student – Soy estudiante; and I am being angry (right now) – Estoy malo.

Look at the conjugation in present, as they are both irregular:

I soy estoy We somos estamos

You eres estás You sois estáis

He, she,it es está They son están

Don't forget to write the graphical accent! If you don't, you verb will be a demonstrative pronoun!

Next time we'll talk about their uses!

English Word Of The Day

2006-12-13T04:57:00.000-08:00

Dwam (Noun)

Pronunciation: [dwom]

Definition: 1) A fainting fit, a swoon; 2) a daydream.

Usage: In north-eastern Scotland a sickly child can be called "dwamie" or "dwamish," demonstrating that the two meanings of "dwam" are not as far apart as they at first appear. The feverish child not only feels faint, but may also drift off into half-waking reveries. To be "in a dwam" is to be far gone in a daydream. The verb "to dwam" means "to faint," but to "dwam over" is simply to drift off gently to sleep or to take a nap.

"Dwamming over" is just as pleasant as it sounds: "I had just dwammed over nicely last Sunday afternoon, when some idiot phoned the wrong number and woke me up." But going into a dwam at the wrong moment can be problematic: "I came out of a dwam at the last board meeting to discover I'd been elected to chair the pay-review committee." (We are thanking Yourdictionary.com again for the nice word and pefect examples!)

Etymology: Originally spelled "dwalm," this word reaches back to an old Germanic "strong" verb (they cahange vowels in the steem) , like "swim : swam." In this case it shifted from "dwel-" and "dwal-" to "dwol-", and meant something like "to be stunned" or "to go astray." From the present tense of the same verb we have derived English "dwell," which originally meant "to delay" or "to desist from action," and only later shifted to take on its modern meaning of staying in one place for some time.

2006-12-11T07:01:00.000-08:00

English Word Of The Day

Cleave (Verb)

Pronunciation: [kleev]

Definitions: 1) To split asunder or into two pieces. 2) To cling or adhere firmly to.

Forms: This word has two past tense forms. The past tense of cleave (to cling or adhere to firmly) is "cleaved" or "clove" and the past participle is "cleaved." The past tense of cleave (to split asunder) is are the same, but the past participle is "cleft" (as in "cleft palate") or "cloven" (as in "cloven hoof"). Both verbs are in the process of 'morphological regularization'. That means that irregular (that means not usual) past forms are being replaced by regular forms on -ed.

How to use it: It is possible to use both senses of these verb in one sentence, as in following: "When I clove (cleaved) the log, splinters flew up and clove (cleaved) to my sweater." (Thanks YourDictionary.com for this great word and its interesting usage).

Etymology: The reason this particular verb has two meaning, that are actually antonyms, is is that it is, in fact, two different verbs. The first is from Old English clifian, Middle English clevien, akin to Old High German kleben "to stick." The second is from Old English cleofan, Middle English cleven, akin to Old Norse kljufa "to split," Latin glubere "to peel," and Greek glyphein "to carve" (as in hieroglyphics "sacred carvings").