Words, Meanings, Language & Quotes

Verklempt is a loan word from the Yiddish language that acts as an adjective. It means to be overwhelmed by emotion, perhaps so much that one cannot speak. An alternative spellings include ferklempt, farklempt, verklemmt, and faklempt. However, the v spelling is vastly preferred. Verklempt was popularized in the United States in the 1990s and many credit that to a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live. Though, in the transcripts of the sketch the word is spelled faklempt

The  Monster Study  was a  stuttering  experiment performed on 22 orphan children in  Davenport, Iowa  in 1939. It was conducted by  Wendell Johnson  at the  University of Iowa . Graduate student Mary Tudor conducted the experiment under Johnson's supervision. Half of the children received positive speech therapy, praising the fluency of their speech, and the other half, negative speech therapy, belittling the children for speech imperfections. Many of the normal speaking orphan children who received negative therapy in the experiment suffered negative psychological effects, and some retained speech problems for the rest of their lives. It was dubbed the "Monster Study" as some of Johnson's peers were horrified that he would experiment on orphan children to confirm a hypothesis. The experiment was kept hidden for fear Johnson's reputation would be tarnished in the wake of  human experiments conducted by the Nazis  during  World...

Cara McKenna Jul 15, 2016 Elizabeth Phillips, 77, had to fight to hold on to her language early in life. Now she’s trying to pass it on. Elizabeth Phillips reads aloud words in her Indigenous language. Cara McKenna APTN National News The Stó:lō people are named in their language after the Fraser River, which is the community’s lifeblood and flows through their picturesque territory southeast of Vancouver, B.C. Just a few generations ago, dozens of people spoke the nation’s language of Upriver Halkomelem. But in the last decade, almost all fluent speakers have died. There is just one elder left who early in life had to fight to keep her language, and is now trying to pass it on before it’s too late. The Knowledge Holder I try my best not to lose [my language], because I can’t have a conversation .” – Elizabeth Phillips, Stó:lō elder When Elizabeth Phillips was a child, she was put into St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in Mission. She was forbidden to speak the language that both...

Barry Ritholtz Bloomberg Oct 3, 2020 It has been more than a year since we last visited the question of annoying financial clichés. I recently asked the Twitterati their least favourite finance phrases, and I was shocked at the overwhelming response. Why does this matter? Useless finance phrases have a pernicious effect on our psyche, leading us to blindly accept ideas that should instead receive critical analysis. It’s not just that catchy phrases are no substitute for actual thinking, they are often wrong. Once again, let’s consider a new batch of the most meaningless phrases in finance: 1, “Don’t get complacent.” What, exactly, should an investor do with this bit of advice? How does a lack of complacency manifest itself in an investment portfolio? Should the recipients of this advice liquidate some or all of their holdings? Or should they merely be on the lookout for some heretofore unknown risk — as they always should? “Don’t have a smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or o...

[des-wi-tood, -tyood ] [noun] The state of being no longer used or practiced. A very few people, not appearing to be up to much, sat far apart at desks in a dimly lighted panorama of desuetude. PETER SCHJELDAHL, "THE VILLAGE VOICE'S MAGIC MIRROR," THE NEW YORKER, SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 The practice of “leaving a calling card” may have fallen into desuetude among human beings, but as a description of pet behavior the phrase continues to have legs. CULLEN MURPHY, "ANTICIPATION," THE ATLANTIC, NOVEMBER 1998

The Queen’s English has changed over 60 years, and much for the better, argues the 'Countdown’ word wizard Susie Dent Telegraph May 21, 2012 The notion of “Queen’s English” is usually applied to our pronunciation. Taking the term at its most literal, our monarch’s own sounds are enlightening when it comes to language change during her reign. Phoneticians have noted subtle but distinct changes in Her Majesty’s voice over the past 60 years, amounting to a more democratic style of pronunciation. Evidence from a detailed acoustic analysis of royal Christmas broadcasts suggests that Estuary English, a term coined in the Eighties to describe the apparent spread of London’s sound patterns to counties adjoining the river, might well have had an influence on Her Majesty’s vowels. If in 1952 the royal complaint may have been “I’ve lorst thet bleck het”, then today those o’s and a’s would undoubtedly be more rounded. In the same way, “orf” was left behind and “off” ushered in, “veddy” be...

Fleur Morrison Oxford Australia (blog) September 2019 noun: (esp. of a woman) the practice or habit of taking the least attractive item or option; the practice or habit of putting the needs and desires of others ahead of one’s own. Several years ago an Australian journalist described the experience of playing Monopoly with her family: ‘My brothers fought over the racing car while Mum and I angled for the boot—though she would always give it up for something else because, you know, burnt chop syndrome.’ (Northern Territory News, 27 December 2015) The writer’s use of burnt chop syndrome is likely to have puzzled some readers. It’s a reference to the mother’s practice of allowing others to have what they want, in this case the best Monopoly token, and making do with what is left. If the habit of domestic sacrifice is a universal mothering trait, burnt chop syndrome is an Australian (and New Zealand) way to describe it. It derives from the literal notion that mothers will choo...