MrAtoz

I've responded to the noun gender discussion over in Small Talk. It felt like I was getting a bit far afield if I'd kept it here.

I'm bringing the discussion about noun genders over here from the main Season 38 thread: Yeah, most Indo-European languages have gendered nouns, as it turns out. English speakers learning foreign languages often ask, "Why do they give nouns genders?" The better question is actually, "Why does English not have genders?" From listening to John McWhorter's podcast, Lexicon Valley, I've learned that many (perhaps most) languages have some method of classifying nouns into groups, of which gender is only one example. Some languages use shape, some use animate versus non-animate, some use human versus non-human. English really is an odd man out in this regard. Not entirely unique, but definitely unusual. When I studied German in high school, we happened to have an exchange student from Germany at our school one year. He often came and spoke to the German class about language and culture and stuff. One day, someone asked him, "Don't you get tired of remembering all those genders? Don't you wish that German didn't have noun genders?" Now, this guy was very fluent in English, so he had direct experience speaking a language without gendered nouns. But his response to the suggestion that German get rid of its genders was an emphatic, "No, of course not! I wouldn't know how to talk."

As I recall, it was presented to us as part of this set of letter clusters: ch, sh, th, and wh. In all of those, the "h" modifies the sound of the preceding consonant in some way. So the "h" being silent in "wh" would have made no sense in context. I accept that most people don't pronounce it that way (as one of my linguistics professors once said, "Language changes. Suck it up."), but back at Lafayette Park Elementary School, I was definitely taught that "w" and "wh" are not pronounced the same. Edited to add: I know it's not just me, because when I was in college, one of my friends was very interested in sea life, and was forever talking about "sperm hwales."

I'm old enough that I was taught in school that "wh" is pronounced with an aspiration in front of the w sound--that is, "hw." So to me, Stewie Griffin saying "Cool Hwip" is not weird, but absolutely correct. Any word beginning with "wh" should be pronounced that way. I'll admit that I generally don't really pronounce them that way--but I consider myself lazy and incorrect for not doing so.

I remember that when I was a kid, my mother kept a little bottle of vanilla extract in the kitchen cabinet. I was very puzzled by the fact that it was brown, whereas vanilla ice cream is white. What's with the difference in colors? What are you trying to pull, vanilla?

As I've mentioned before, a slight majority of Americans (57%) pronounce all three words the same. It's the people claiming that they don't rhyme that are the statistical outliers. Edited to add: In regard to Tony Bennett and "new material," I suppose they are using that to mean "newly recorded," as opposed to something like a greatest hits or other compilation album.

I question the accuracy of that map. I grew up in Central Indiana, which is given a light reddish cast, and yet I never called them anything but "pill bug."

Brings to mind the Kids in the Hall song "The Daves I Know."

But "cherry" and "scary" DO rhyme! Probably best not to get into that discussion again... 😀

Buzzy Cohen's given name is Austin, which was helpful when he competed against Austin Rogers. But he was using the name "Buzzy" even in his regular games, so that doesn't really count. I knew Gallipoli from the Eric Bogle song "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," based on the mention of Suvla Bay ("In that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter...").

I'd swear that at some point during the whole "Single Jeopardy" kerfuffle, someone on Twitter had shown an old picture of one of Alex's score sheets that he used to keep track of the clues, and it said "Single Jeopardy Round" in great big letters right at the top. Mayim may not be my favorite person, but I don't really blame her for being a bit prickly about the Single Jeopardy thing. It's such a silly little thing, and I'm kind of amazed that so many people care about it so much.

I wondered if he was thinking of Jane Addams, the reformer and peace activist. She was certainly a controversial figure from around that time, although I don't think she was ever on trial.

I wouldn't ask you to sit through all 20 hours either, but I do love this version of "Ride of the Valkyries" from the Metropolitan Opera's 2010 production, just for that giant stage gizmo that the valkyries are riding on.

I'm no expert on heraldry, but based on a little cursory Googling, it looks like heraldic language specifically uses "wyvern" to refer to a dragon with only two legs, as in the picture. I see that heraldry used the terms "dragon," "wyvern," "lindworm," and "salamander," but I can't find any mention of just "wyrm." The clue also said that the word came from the Latin for "viper." That tidbit might be enough to eliminate "wyrm."

I quibbled with their alphabetizing in that clue. Das Rheingold is only alphabetically first if you alphabetize by "Das." But "Das" is an article--it means "the"--and initial articles are supposed to be ignored when alphabetizing. Going by correct alphabetization, the first Ring opera is Gotterdammerung, and the last is Die Walkure.

You're right about that. Somewhat embarrassingly, as I was pontificating about the changes that the new version had made, I had completely forgotten the "Siegfried and the racetrack" storyline from the original/books. I've enjoyed reading your posts. I'll look forward to your take on season 2!

I do. There's also the "Chicago" franchise (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med) on NBC, and the "FBI" franchise (FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, and FBI: International) on CBS. Dude's like a modern-day Jack Webb. Appropriate, since he also produced the short-lived remake of "Dragnet" with Ed O'Neill back in the early 2000s.

Whereas my thought was "Battle In Vain? What the hell is he talking about?" I was astonished when they actually gave it to him later. "Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain?" How are you supposed to remember that, and why would you bother when it's much easier to picture a nerdy little guy named Roy G. Biv?

I only won three games, but I was on the "Tournament of Champions Tracker" on jeopardy.com for quite awhile until enough 4-game winners came along to push me off of it. I think there is language somewhere on the website to the effect that being on the list doesn't guarantee a spot in the tournament, and that the producers have sole discretion to select tournament participants. Theoretically, they could invite anybody to the TOC, even someone who had won no games at all. They wouldn't do that, of course, but there's no rule that says they can't.

Third base!

I can understand that feeling. But if they'd done that, I suspect that a lot of people would be saying "This is just All Creatures with the serial numbers filed off!" I find it best to just think of this as a kind of alternate universe All Creatures. Being a comic book geek helps with things like that. 😀

I did, as well. Burns wrote in that dialect ("tak" for "take", "hae" for "have," etc.). You pretty much have to adopt a Scots accent when you read him aloud.

True. As my wife and I often joke, there's a reason that the channels that show old sitcoms are full of commercials for things like reverse mortgages, Medicare Advantage plans, and Life Alert bracelets.

Surely you mean "Kim Put Candy On Fred's Green Suit." 😀

I'm not sure how harshly to judge the contestants for not knowing Betty White. The Golden Girls went off the air 30 years ago (!), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show was even earlier. I think younger folks might just have a general sense of Betty White as "that lady who loves animals and has been on TV forever," without necessarily knowing the names of her characters. Heck, even Hot in Cleveland is almost ten years old at this point!