Celtic is a division of the PIE (Proto Indo-European) language group. It is thought that much of Europe once spoke Celtic. Celts once occupied central to western Europe including the British Isles. The northern Celtic languages are also called Gaelic. I do not believe there is any remnant of Celtic ...

Dr. Beard: a great word and great definition of the word as a noun. Tabernacle is also a verb. It means to take up residence or to live with. Perry Lassiter may be able to tell us if and where tabernacle is used as a verb in the Bible. I can't find it. Concordances apparently do not worry about part...

Is whiskey from Celtic usquebaugh the only Celtic word in English except for some place names? Sad to think it, but I am a Celt and the only Celtic word I know is usquebaugh. Somebody stole my language. Drat those Anglo Saxons. If you ever go across the sea to Ireland you won't find many Celtic word...

I tried to think of a pun on vitreous humor, something like laughing when someone walked on broken glass, but that one won't fly. I answered anyway so y'all would know that I am at least trying to think.

Pidgins to creoles to full blown languages The good word HIGH-MUCK-A-MUCK has spawned a discussion about types of languages and their relationships with each other. LukeJavan8 suggested someone put a thread on Res Diversae on which we can continue this subject under a more descriptive name. This is ...

From my previous post, when I wrote "Alpha Angora" I was not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. I really know the difference between "angora" and "agora'. I an just weak at spelling and spell check did not know the word I meant. Please forgive me.

As us (sic) rednecks say, "Much obliged for the comments on my post." As one says in modern slang, "My bad for forgetting Patois." Patois are either non-standard dialects (whatever that means) or technical jargon. Patois is a plural word with apparently no singular form. That see...

Doc has it right. This is the standard linguistics definition of pidgin and a creole. My spell check insists I spell creole with a capital letter and even supplies one for me automatically that I must override. My understanding is that with a capital letter, Creole means French creole. (Someone corr...

Since the Apostle Paul was a rabbi, according to Jewish custom of the time he probably was married. There is no mention of his wife in the Bible. Peter had a wife, but there is no mention of Paul’s wife. Perhaps the thorn in the flesh was an absent wife who had a claim on him. Something like, “Quit ...

Has anyone read the novel "Precious Bane" by Mary Webb? I do not know much about the author. She wrote this book in 1924. I read it when I was a teen and have reread it several times. In this case, her bane was something that was thought to be very bad, but turned out to her advantage.

"My bad," seems flippant. Let's avoid it.

Germania does not mean things German. It is an ancient name for ill defined sections of Eastern Europe in what is now parts of Germany but also included parts of France, Belgium and The Netherlands. Germany is called Germania in some languages. The Germans call themselves Deutsch and their country i...

I came late to this thread. Gaffer means an old man. I am a geezer and a gaffer. In the spirit of the theme of this thread, some of the examples are malapropisms. The word comes from the name Mrs. Malaprop, given an old woman in a play (“She Stoops to Conquer” by Oliver Goldsmith) who was prone to i...

Every time a language is lost, a wealth of cultural richness is lost. Those who loose their language have been robbed. We did that with many Amerind languages out of ignorance or neglect. Today people do it purposefully for several reasons. Racism, humiliation, and violent economic unrest are freque...

I can't imagine saying it to a man under any circumstances. I appreciate the word "guy" used in the masculine sense only. Since certain Yankees began saying "youse guys" and enlargint the mantle to cover males and females in the word, it has become pretty universally to be a comm...