Linguaphiles

Using the illative where ("Saan tumae ang pusa?") in "where did the cat poop?", effectively asking where the poop went, not where the cat was.

Spam language correctly identified as Estonian despite not knowing it or Finnish. (Either that, or Google Translate and I both misidentified it the same way.)

I ordered a Lingthusiasm IPA mug and got an update email a few hours ago telling me it was shipped. Soon, when I ask myself "how does gazpacho sound tonight?" as I do nightly, I'll have a handy reference to help me answer.

In (at least some) English-speaking countries, it's said to make you go blind. In France (and maybe in other French-speaking countries), it's said to make you go deaf. What about other countries or languages?

Interesting analogy.

I posted this on LiveJournal linguaphiles nearly 12 years ago, so I say it's time to repost it here:

Once upon a time, there were two small businesses, one making garments, and the other bedroom furniture. They prospered in relative obscurity for a while, growing slowly over the years, until an economic downturn caught them both when they were overextended. Faced with serious trouble, they decided in a last-ditch attempt to band together, hoping that the combined company would survive what they couldn't weather on their own.

But because they weren't well-known and supplied different products, even people familiar with the trades would likely not know both by their names. This is likely why the reports of their plans didn't refer to them by their names, instead calling it the cot-coat merger.

I think I'd read that fic.