Language roundup for 11 April

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Just a few links worth sharing today.

A blog post here by someone that has come across a Flapper dictionary. Flappers were girls in the 1920s that listened to jazz and smoked and did all sorts of things, including creating their own slang. Some of it is still known today, while about half or more is more or less unrecognizable. I think Berries is my favourite. A small sample:

Bank’s Closed—No petting allowed; no kisses.
Barneymugging—Lovemaking.
Bee’s Knees—See “Cat’s Pajamas”
Bell Polisher—A young man addicted to lingering in vestibules at 1 a.m.
Bean Picker—One who patches up trouble and picks up spilled beans.
Berry Patch—A man’s particular interest in a girl.
Berries—Great.
One other interesting vestige of flapper culture is Blondie, the comic strip that began with a fairly riveting plot (for a comic strip) - the son of a tycoon falls in love with a flapper but his dad does not approve, and threatens to disinherit him if he insists on marrying her. At the same time the dad intends to marry her off to someone else, telling her at the same time that it would be best for the man she loves since she's clearly not good enough for someone of the Bumstead family and if she wants what's best for him...see the actual strips from back then here.

Modern Indo-European: a post here and here from Dnghu show that they are still active and working hard on the 3rd edition of the grammar. The Assimil-like Indo-European course looks to be interesting as well, though those always end up taking longer than first expected. First up will be the revised grammar, and then we'll see what happens.

There is also a Sambahsa reference document, a quick overview of the grammar of Sambahsa in a single viewing.

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