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30 Times Linguists Were Disappointed In People’s Knowledge Of Linguistics, As Shared In This Dedicated Online Group
As the famous Wu-Tang Clan once said: “Words rule everything around me.” Wait, I’ve got that wrong, what was it now… Oh, right, it was “cash". How could I forget!
But the same could definitely be applied to words. They’re the best tools we have to convey complex thoughts. And with language being as important as it is, it’s no surprise that sometimes it is wildly misunderstood or intentionally misused.
When it gets so bad that it’s funny, that’s when the Reddit community /r/badlinguistics comes in to collect.
More info: Reddit
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#2
“Please Stop Using It”
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago
Am I seeing things? Am I certain this person is an idiot? Am I bold enough to make such an assertation? Yes. Yes, I am.
#3
Apparently, English Is The Only Language In The World That Evolves Or Uses Loan Words
Luke Branwen 3 years ago
My bachelor thesis was on this topic, so I know a thing or two about it 😅
#4
English = Bad French
SynthaCybe 3 years ago
We took your countries and we took your words... like the British Mueseum, if it ain't nailed down, we takin' it! If it is nailed down, we takin' that too...
#5
One Of The Stranger Covid Etymologies I've Seen (Xpost Insanepeoplefacebook)
Karen Krause 3 years ago
I love how conspiracy theorists keep on coming up with "Codes" to prove their points. In real life the villain isn't going to leave a clue right out in the open that the ordinary person is going to crack in a few minutes. If they did leave a clue it'd be like the Zodiac Killer's.
#6
Actual Page On Conservapedia
Shard_of_Moon_Glass 3 years ago
What in the heavens? Then again, conservatives are full of shite anyways.
#7
Only Certain Pronouns Are "Backed By Science" I Guess
A Wild Bean 3 years ago
Well, turns out the words 'I', 'me', 'you', 'they', 'them', 'us', and 'we' aren't real because they're not backed by science /s
#8
School vs. The North East!
#9
Baby Talk Will Stunt Your Child’s Acquisition
Jeremy James 3 years ago
Yes. Greetings and salutations, Baby. I find you quite adorable. Do you concur with my assessment? I assure you, it is correct.
#10
English Hardest Language
Kobe (she) 3 years ago
Not true of course. That entirely depends on where you are from. There was research on that. Results on most difficult languages in general : 1. Mandarin 2. Arabic 3. Telugu 4. Japanese 5. Polish 6. Turkish 7. Russian 8. Vietnamese 9. Finnish 10. Korean
#11
It Is Impossible To Learn Swedish Because Of One Sound Which No Non-Native Swedish Person Can Actually Say
#12
I’m Bri-Ish
#13
The “How Do We Make This Fantasy Race Sound Evil/Threatening?” Starterpack
#14
Ahh Yes, My Favourite Language Family, The POC Languages
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago (edited)
I... don't understand how learning Hindu or Swahili would be EASIER if you already know Mandarin vs. already knowing English XD The language families for Hindu, Swahili, and Mandarin are all drastically different.
#15
Today's SMBC Comic Fits Right At Home In This Subreddit!
#16
Apparently ‘My’ Can Only Literally Mean Possession
#17
Three Different Comments, From Three Different People, All Commenting On The Same TikTok
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago (edited)
Someone please help, it's 4:10am and my brain is not home. Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Mexico are THE SAME LANGUAGE, right? (Other than regional differences.) It's just called español in Mexico and castellano in Spain. I'm adopted, but my family is Mexican, and I learned Spanish as a child. We've had exchange students from Spain and I was able to understand them perfectly and converse with them just fine. These three people are just idiots, right?!
#18
A Speed Of 1 Language Per Week
#19
Chinese Characters Are Proof That We Need Jesus
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago (edited)
Bruh... from 22+ years of dating my Chinese boyfriend, I've learned a LOT about the written Chinese language. A lot of it is pictographic in origin, so yes, certain characters will "resemble" the word they represent (like the words for net, fire, farm/field, person, meat.) But this is due to literal THOUSANDS of years of language development and has zero to do with a fictional white man who wore a robe and sandals. They are correct above with the depiction for the character for "rest" in that it contains the character for "person"... but it DOES NOT have a Christian "cross" in it. Written Chinese existed long before people invented Jesus and the Christian cross.
#20
Spanish Was Spoken In Portugal Until They Stole Portuguese From Brazilian Natives
MaximumKarmaSaint 3 years ago (edited)
They're describing how they "stole" the language as if it was a heist.
#21
Found This Gem
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago
The 63 million people in the world who speak Italian as a first language would like a word (and some gestures) with whomever posted this.
#22
Khmer Is Indo-European
#23
Interesting Take On English Word Etymologies
MaximumKarmaSaint 3 years ago
Those first three are the stupidest descriptions I've ever seen, and I've seen a racist description of what the word "Covid-19" means.
#24
A Response To A Merriam-Webster's Twitter Thread About Words Changing Their Meaning
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago
lol, my Chinese boyfriend would like a word with whomever posted this.
#25
“English Is Actually A Chinese Dialect” And Much More
#26
I Haven't Seen A Meme On This Sub In While So I Made One
#27
"Is Korean Indo-European?"
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago (edited)
It MUST be true, because English has the word "park" and there's a Korean last name that's spelled "Park"!!! PROOF!!!! /s
#28
English Is A Tonal Language Because It Has Intonation
Nikki Sevven 3 years ago
No. A tonal language means if you get the tone wrong, you might be saying, "Your wife is a big hippo," instead of what you wanted to say, which was, "Highly enjoyable."
#29
From A Video About A Monolingual Irish Speaker
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago
Yeah, you know, those Ancient Greeks that are totally immortal and still living in Italy... we had some movies about these immortals, it's a series of films called "Highlander"...
#30
Someone Must Have Murdered Cases In English
Liz Clarke 3 years ago
That is sort of true, at least for spelling. There wasn't a single way to spell most words so it was pretty much a free for all. In the 17th and 18th centuries a few academics started writing dictionaries and decided on what should be standardized English.
#31
Short But Sweet
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
8 million Catalans would like to have a word with you. Catalan is a distinct language that shares Proto-Romance origins with French and Spanish. It does not derive from them.
#32
I Hate Colonialism As Much As The Next Guy, But This Ain’t It
#33
A Friend Sent This To Me :/
Shard_of_Moon_Glass 3 years ago
I’m pretty sure NASA is trying to bang a pot on whoever posted this.
#34
I Guess Germanic And Slavic Languages Don't Exist
Pheebs 3 years ago
“Stole” English, like people didn’t keep moving their asses here. Just one day the native peoples of North America were like “we need a new language, just because”, and English it is. And then they just, ya know, kidnapped English speakers and forced them to teach their language. /s
#35
English Is So Stoopid
#36
Boo-Ze
#37
A Poster For My School's Armenian Club Claiming That The Armenian Alphabet Is One Of The "Most Advanced In The World."
Shard_of_Moon_Glass 3 years ago
Either I’m stupid or these posts are stupid, because I’m starting to get confused.
#38
We've Solved It! Albanian Is The Original Language!
Shard_of_Moon_Glass 3 years ago
There is no “original” language. Groups of early humans just spread and developed their own forms of writing and communication.
#39
Scandinavian + French + Latin = English
#40
Basque Is A Combination Of Spanish And French
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Lakota Wolf 3 years ago (edited)
These entries gave me a fit of the vapors. I was an English major with a degree in English/Creative Writing and a great love for actual, TRUE word origins and etymology XD
Featherking 3 years ago
Yeah. It hurt. I think a may have sprained my Broca’s area. Potentially my Wernicke’s area too.
Load More Replies...
Deborah Rubin 3 years ago
Do people actually believe these things? Notice, if you will, how many people claim that their native language is that from which all other languages derive. I am a published author, back when there were publishing houses, publishing actual books. Some of these comments made my skin crawl.
SkyBlueandBlack 3 years ago
As an anthropology major, they make my skin crawl, too.
Load More Replies... Lakota Wolf 3 years ago (edited)
These entries gave me a fit of the vapors. I was an English major with a degree in English/Creative Writing and a great love for actual, TRUE word origins and etymology XD
Featherking 3 years ago
Yeah. It hurt. I think a may have sprained my Broca’s area. Potentially my Wernicke’s area too.
Load More Replies... Deborah Rubin 3 years ago
Do people actually believe these things? Notice, if you will, how many people claim that their native language is that from which all other languages derive. I am a published author, back when there were publishing houses, publishing actual books. Some of these comments made my skin crawl.
SkyBlueandBlack 3 years ago
As an anthropology major, they make my skin crawl, too.
Load More Replies... 
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