h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes

just found this on the grauniad site:

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/andrew_mueller/2008/04/linguistic_pedants_of_the_world_unite.html

which links to

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/grammer-vigilantes-are-mission-eradicate-typos

and is about

"a small but righteous crew are traversing America in order to edit it. ... on a mission to correct every misspelled, poorly punctuated, sloppily phrased item of signage they encounter en route. "

And I don't think the Guardian writer goes much on txt spk either

"A person who perpetrates vandalism upon the language, whether they're the signwriters targeted by Teal or the correspondents who pollute Comment is free threads with the barbarous neologisms of text-speak, is not merely inept but actively contemptuous."

Time for another airing of my joke:

Q. Who led the Pedant's Revolt?
A. Which Tyler.

very good Ed

Good one, Ed (Wat's's brew?)

>Caught was invented by analogy with "taught", although catch is not the same sound as teach.
And in the same spirit, no preachers praught... (with muce more of a similar vein at http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/jokeengl.htm - applogies if most of these strangenesses in English have been aired here before, but to a non-English struggling with said language, they're hilarious )

to check on the typo-correcting purists (hail!) - and then remembers a sign that is a) correct b) gets its message across: http://www.lindevej.dk/blog/2007/04/and-we-mean-it.html

And apt title for a Danish blog. Reminds me at my mirth at the announcement on the metro from Kastrup:
'This train also goes to Elsinore.'
Although to Danes, I guess that's just normal.

You know, I don't even think I deliberately thought of Shakespeare when I found that name... Shows you what the subconscious is capable of

Must admit to having seen Hamlet at Elsinore Castle, though

>> ...admit to having seen Hamlet at Elsinore Castle <<




But did ya see his dad?


~jwf~

I always knew you had the key to THE cellar

~jwf~

We're on the front page.
If spruce up is connected with trees it's one of the very few Polish words in English. (I expect they'll be some more now).
"Ship-shape and Bristol fashion" - any other synonyms?

According to this site, http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/40/messages/34.html , 'spruce up' is related to the tree, but only indirectly. It comed from a kind of leather used to make jerkins that were considered smart-looking.

Here's a different link, essentially from the same site but from the main pages rather than the message boards. It seems that 'spruce' is Prussian, not Polish. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spruce-up.html

was looking up some funny forrin words the other day and came across a couple of websites about borrowed words in English.

A lot of the supposed borrowings from Polish a) I've never heard of and b) seemed actually to come from Yiddish.

Although Horde appears not to be.

Also found this:
http://ifa.amu.edu.pl/~krynicki/my_pres/my_pres_12.htm
about borrowings of English into Polish and broken down by subject area and date.

z prus (not sure of the spelling)is the Polish for "from Prussia".AS mentioned above, I don't know of any other Polish words in English.
Unless you all know what a "Zapiakanki" is, of course

No, seems there's not many:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/med-magazine/October2004/23-FalseFriends-Polish.htm#6

I posted this elsewhere yesterday:
http://www.feedback.nildram.co.uk/richardebbs/essays/loanword.htm

[Thanks for the interesting links.I hadn't come across the article author before,but knew both of the people he acknowledged - read it while watching a Nat Geog thingy on bonobos]
I love the almost completely obscuring grammatical endings. I was going to say unpronouncable, but I once lived in a place called Wrczcz.
Now off on an extended etymology trawl (I'm supposed to be marking exam papers)Did 'vodka' really come from Polish?

"Slapdash lobbying" - now there's a phrase to conjure with! The Polish Agriculture Minister was "slammed" for it in last year's protracted fight between the "vodka belt" and the EU over the definition of vodka. Now you can make it of any vegetable matter but you have to say on the label if it's not potatoes or grain. Seems the Brits already make it from sugar beet.
I always thought that spirit made from grain was whisk(e)y.