Since the last linkfest was so overwhelmingly popular, here are some more random items!
1) Note on the Word “Scriptorium” in Coptic Sources, at Alin Suciu.com: did Coptic have a word or formula to designate the place within the monastery where the manuscripts were copied by the scribes? It’s unclear, mais ça vaut le détour!
2) Maria writes about Pet Peeves in Russian: if you mix up “походу” with “похоже,” or if you say “имеет место быть” or “Доброго времени суток,” or if you overuse “как бы,” you’re going to annoy a lot of people.
3) You’ve heard about the guy who’s wasting a chunk of his life “correcting” every occurrence of “comprised of” he finds in Wikipedia? David Shariatmadari explains Why Wikipedia’s grammar vigilante is wrong, and does so very convincingly (although probably not to said vigilante).
Addendum. 4) Word Map: “This experiment brings together the power of Google Translate and the collective knowledge of Wikipedia to put into context the relationship between language and geographical space.” Enter a word and it will show you foreign-language equivalents, and play sound files if available. For me, it freezes up in Firefox but works in Chrome.
Maxim Krongauz (as cited in the “Russian pet peeves”) actually explains that “Доброго времени суток” has been influenced by a common TV program greeting, “Доброй ночи!”, which in turn is morphed after a good-bye phrase. And he observes that with the influences so strong and clear, his prescriptivist understanding of the problems with the common usage may not be worth much:
я рискую оказаться в положении авторов, боровшихся с прощанием «Пока!». Ведь последнюю точку ставит не лингвист, а народ
я рискую оказаться в положении авторов, боровшихся с прощанием «Пока!». Ведь последнюю точку ставит не лингвист, а народ
That’s so good I’m going to translate it for the non-russophones:
I risk finding myself in the situation of authors who rail against saying “Poká!” [literally ‘for the time being’] as a farewell. It’s the people, not the linguist, who make the final decision [literally ‘add the last period/full stop’].
It’s the people, not the linguist, who make the final decision [literally ‘add the last period/full stop’]
Multitran also suggests translating the “last period” expression as “closes the book / closes the chapter” or “puts the matter to rest”.