Hi there! Hope you’re doing well. The holidays are approaching, and with it the New Year. I’m bound to set and share some resolutions both for this blog and my language learning journey, but they’ll come at a later time. Today, I wanted to share a curated assortment of language nerdery that I used to feature in an old newsletter that didn’t really focus on languages but had a Language Corner section (BTW, if you’re interested in checking my essays and short stories, they’re all hosted here —
To speak to your comment about italicization, as an American copyeditor, the rule is to italicize on first use foreign terms that don't appear in the dictionary. This explains why common terms like falafel are no longer italicized, but almost unknown (to Americans) Turkish snacks are!
We say 'lupper' for lunch and supper as we usually eat just two meals a day, breakfast and then an early supper around 4. I've heard it call 'linner' as well. It's a senior thing. Lots of interesting nerdery here!
While reading this, I figured you would love the game pedantle. The goal is to find a Wikipedia page by guessing which words are in its content.
It's brilliant and addictive. If you're curious, the original is in French and is called pédantix. Here's the link to the English version:
https://cemantle.certitudes.org/pedantle
To speak to your comment about italicization, as an American copyeditor, the rule is to italicize on first use foreign terms that don't appear in the dictionary. This explains why common terms like falafel are no longer italicized, but almost unknown (to Americans) Turkish snacks are!
I can’t speak to its authenticity, but I choose to believe the following fun fact for cocktail parties: fascism and fajitas come from the same word. https://x.com/dannybate4/status/1410296181318721538?s=46
We say 'lupper' for lunch and supper as we usually eat just two meals a day, breakfast and then an early supper around 4. I've heard it call 'linner' as well. It's a senior thing. Lots of interesting nerdery here!