When ideas fail, words come in very handy (Goethe)

  All languages make up new words as they go along. Sometimes it happens because our life style changes and we suddenly need new words. Brunch was invented because we weren’t hungry enough at breakfast but couldn’t wait till lunch. So we blended the two words. Linguistics call this process blending. Motel is also a blended word [...]

[Read more]

It was a great shock to hear that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated earlier today. Only a few days ago we posted our article “Please Don’t call me Judas” where we  chose to include Benazir Bhutto’s name and its translation; Benazir meaning “without comparison” (in Urdu) and to pay her our respect. 
We wish to send our deepest condolences to the people [...]

[Read more]

Language is a communication tool and the invention and addition of new words is an ongoing process in all languages of the world. 
Often enough we find ourselves misunderstood even when the listener speaks the same language. At times words get in the way, and at other times we can’t find the right words to [...]

[Read more]

Word of the Day

Word of the Day
provided by The Free Dictionary
Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day
provided by The Free Dictionary
 What can be more exciting than turning WORDS into traffic? Check this link for more information:
http://hop.clickbank.net/?idiom/ezarticles
You mustn’t miss our Treasure Store.

[Read more]

Our name is almost always given to us by our parents and we bear it throughout our lives. We are identified by our names therefore naming your child is of great importance. Why are most of us so fussy about their names? Why are we annoyed when our name is mispronounced? Why do many people [...]

[Read more]

  At the age of 12 I already knew what I wanted to do when I grow up. I wanted to become a simultanuous translator and work for the UN. I sometimes wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that my mother spoke German, English, Romanian, Yiddish and Hebrew and my late [...]

[Read more]

We linguists engage, among other things, in comparing languages and exploring their histories, in order to find universal properties of language as well as to account for its development and origins.
Languages are sometimes genetically related, i.e.  descended from the same mother language. For instance, Italian & Spanish are “sisters”, having both Latin for a [...]

[Read more]

Did you know? That:

Hebrew is written from right to left.

The original Hebrew script developed alongside others in the region during the course of the late second and first millennia BCE; it is closely related to the Phoenician script, which itself probably gave rise to the use of alphabetic writing in Greece (Greek). It is sometimes [...]

[Read more]

Funny Quotes of Serious People 
“England and America are two countries separated by a common language” (George Bernard Shaw)
“A house does not need a wife any more than it needs a husband“ (Charlotte Perkins Gilman, when asked on the term ‘housewife’).
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, than [...]

[Read more]

   I always knew that if and when I’ll have a blog, part of it will be dedicated to elephants. Amazing creatures, aren’t they?
In fact, elephants and humans have a lot in common. Did you know? that:
Elephants cry, play, have incredible memories and laugh.
Physical contact is very important in elephants’ social life; they often touch one another [...]

[Read more]

Meet Mushi (pronounced like sushi), Liat’s pet. Although she is only a kitten (about 4 months of age) she already instinctively purrs fluently in five different languages (none of which we understand).
Here is where you come into the picture: if any of you could recommend a good “cat lingo” disctionary, we’d be more than grateful.
Besides reading, we (Pnina [...]

[Read more]

Learning a language can be quite a task at times. When English is your mother tongue, Hebrew is double Dutch to you, isn’t it? Do you think German is easier to learn? Despite the common belief, no ‘language’ is actually more difficult than another. In fact each language is unique in its complexity yet it [...]

[Read more]

   A pun – “The humorous use of a word, or a combination of words so as to emphasize different meanings, or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.” (The Random House College Dictionary – revised edition).
A boiled egg in [...]

[Read more]

 
Mind Tools
Etymology probably sounds like a disease to you, unless you are a Linguistics graduate. In fact, Etymology is the study of the origin (history) of words which is based on scientific tools. Linguists do that because it’s part of their job  and it’s important for better understanding the nature of languages.

The word hazard(n.) danger; (vb.) to risk or expose to danger, for [...]

[Read more]

                                                                                                                       
“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people” (Thomas Mann).

Language is composed of words. Many words. Both David Crystal, in the
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language and Tom McArthur, in the Oxford Companion to the English Language suggest that there must be at least a [...]

[Read more]