This gentleman’s native language doesn’t have the same sounds or rules as English, making it hard for him to replicate English words. His friends know this…so of course they have some fun with him…
(via Reddit)
For more on this type of linguistic substitution, check out why “Merry Christmas” morphs into “Mele Kalikimaka” in Hawaiian.
The Dayton Dragons are an affiliate team of the Cincinnati Reds and are one of the most popular teams in minor league baseball. One of their biggest fans is 7-year-old Hunter Samworth, a shy kid who’s also deaf.
When he approached the mascot at a recent game, Hunter was surprised that a team employee escorting the dragon began speaking with him in ASL. Then Heater the Dragon started signing with him too…
As mom says in the background, “I think I’m gonna cry.”
Jacob Williamson participated in the national spelling bee for the first time this year and quickly became a crowd favorite with his guilelessly confident exuberance. In his first round of the semi-finals, he approached the mic and asked the pronouncer to “Please give me a word I know.”
For Williamson’s next two visits to the microphone, the pronouncer complied with this unorthodox request, allowing Williamson to make it through to the finals. To say he was pleased would be an understatement…
Thanks to German’s propensity for compounding words, the name of most any animal is easily deducible…
(More at Babbel, via Likecool)
It’s not that interesting to observe that English is the most common language in every state. And since Spanish is the second most common language in all but seven states, that isn’t very intriguing either.
But then we get to the third most common language, and things get diverse and, in some cases, rather surprising. From Russian to Korean, Navajo to Arabic, there are nearly 20 languages that take third place in at least one state…
(Read more at Slate)
The British crime drama Broadchurch has done well enough that they’re now making an American version called Gracepoint. David Tennant plays the same lead character in both.
Here he is in equivalent scenes from each version…
“Yes” is not always a positive answer in a wedding ceremony…
The Speaking Exchange project uses the web to bring Brazilians learning English together with American retirees. The first test run of the program was between a school in Liberdade, Brazil, and Chicago’s Windsor Park Retirement Community.
These are the heartwarming results…
A surprising number of hooks in 90′s pop were made up of lexically void syllables…
From a preponderance of Marys in the early 60′s, through a seemingly indomitable reign of Jennifers in the 1970′s, all the way to today’s numerous Emmas and Sophias… Scroll down to see how naming baby girls has changed over time, both per state and in the country as a whole…
(You can also view these images as a GIF slideshow, if you prefer.)
Yesterday, we saw James Chapman’s illustration teaching us how to tell people to shut up in 6 different languages. Today, we’re learning from Chapman how to snore in Japanese, French, and five other languages…
(via Design Taxi)
