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[CortJstr]

GUYS!  We talked about this!

The absolute largest would be called "Gina."

That's just too large. People, please do no drink your own bodyweight in carbonated beverages.

[JorgeFabregas]

man, this reminds me... the other day in linguistics we were talking about how words are totally random 90% of the time. The professor said that if you ask a kid, he will tell you the opposite.
"Why is this called a book?"
"because... it's a book."
"but why is it called that? where does that word come from?"
"oh. *knocks on book* I guess because it's kind of hard, and you can open it, and turn the pages. Which is kind of... book."

I mean, small cup = cunt almost feel like it follows some sort of rule? to a kid, maybe.
cup + runt.

Um, does your linguistics professor hate etymology? Because I'm pretty sure that's not where books get their name. Sure, if you go far back enough there would've been some random naming, but not for the actual english word "book"--it would've been for the ancestors of that word.

[hammish]

Is anyone else at the point where they feel like they need to physically work up the energy to make it through each new Phillipe Times? It's like... I load the page... feel bombarded by a wall of text... and make a note in my head to tackle it before the day is over.

Does this make me a terrible human being or just really, really lazy?

Phillipe's journalistic missives are certainly a hefty dose of prose -- but it's still Achewood prose. I find many of the comic's subtle visual details which give me so much joy have their linguistic equivalents in events like Phillipe Times.

[iron_felix]

Um, does your linguistics professor hate etymology? Because I'm pretty sure that's not where books get their name. Sure, if you go far back enough there would've been some random naming, but not for the actual english word "book"--it would've been for the ancestors of that word.

...in fact, even if you can trace a word's etymology back to the level of some caveman pointing at a rock and saying "ug," it still may not be completely random.

When I first saw the Guess Place object I thought it might be some sort of curling iron, but that wouldn't give much reason for T to a) not explain it to Philippe or b) not recognize it himself.  Did curling irons look any different back in the '80s?  Maybe it was beige, and that threw him off?

Also, Jack Black as Michael Vick sounds pretty bizarre, but as an Atlantan it is good to know that Ronnie Mexico hasn't been completely forgotten in the wake of all the dogfighting controversy.

[jaydub]

Um, does your linguistics professor hate etymology? Because I'm pretty sure that's not where books get their name. Sure, if you go far back enough there would've been some random naming, but not for the actual english word "book"--it would've been for the ancestors of that word.

I think the point was more that a kid doesn't consider why something is called what it is.  Someone tells you its a book, you get an intuitive feel for the characteristics of "book" (hard, stiff papery thing - sort of weighty with a hinge on one side).  That gets subsumed into your general model of the world, and when you're called to describe a similar, novel object you say "Its like a book, but with a screen and keyboard instead of pages".

[JorgeFabregas]

...in fact, even if you can trace a word's etymology back to the level of some caveman pointing at a rock and saying "ug," it still may not be completely random.

Hmm. That sounds a little like what the prof might have been riffing on. Book does sound kind of solid and bookie.

[theinevitable]

Um, does your linguistics professor hate etymology? Because I'm pretty sure that's not where books get their name. Sure, if you go far back enough there would've been some random naming, but not for the actual english word "book"--it would've been for the ancestors of that word.

Yeah, I mean, etymology still just goes back to some other random word that doesn't really suggest what it means. The sound "book" does not have any relation to the fact of a book.
We also talked about the words that aren't random-- M sounds in "mother", i's and t's and k's in little things (itsy-bitsy!), etc. But for most words... it's random.
I also enjoy the bird vs. giraffe experiment, where they would give a pair of words from some obscure south american language to someone, and ask which was the bird and which was the giraffe.
"twitwitweet" or "blugub". Apparently bird names come from the sound they make in almost every language.

[jaydub]

Apparently bird names come from the sound they make in almost every language.

whipoorwill
chickadee
tit
bobwhite (quail)
cuckoo
....
others?

[V-Adore]

GUYS!  We talked about this!

The absolute largest would be called "Gina."

I was worried, reading this thread, that this wouldn't be mentioned. Thank you. For a moment, I'd lost faith.

[wombat]

Apparently bird names come from the sound they make in almost every language.

Robin? Sparrow? Pigeon? Eagle? Swan? Budgerigar? Flamingo? Penguin?

I'm somewhat unimpressed with the reliability of this generalization.

Also, languages don't agree on how you even imitate the sounds of animals. Unless you think maybe dogs in Japan actually sound different and that's why they claim they go 'wan wan' instead of 'bow wow.' So it's not like this principle is going to help you predict what some bird is called in another language.

[Doc]

That's just too large. People, please do no drink your own bodyweight in carbonated beverages.

Hey, I'm a little heavy but that's just being rude.

[theinevitable]

Robin? Sparrow? Pigeon? Eagle? Swan? Budgerigar? Flamingo? Penguin?

I'm somewhat unimpressed with the reliability of this generalization.

Also, languages don't agree on how you even imitate the sounds of animals. Unless you think maybe dogs in Japan actually sound different and that's why they claim they go 'wan wan' instead of 'bow wow.' So it's not like this principle is going to help you predict what some bird is called in another language.

Not every bird. But many. The concept is that you can guess which is a bird and which is a giraffe in that experiment.

[AugustWest]

Hmmm.  Take two fairly obscure examples and see if they'd be interchangeable.

Try "Dace" and "Plover". 

Both could feel like either a bird or a giraffe.  There's nothing particularly giraffey or birdy about either.

Wrasse  Rhea 

Cod Jay

Barracuda Cockatoo

Finch Perch

Sturgeon  Pigeon

Nope.  Sorry, not working for me.

[Victoria Waterfield]

Hmmm.  Take two fairly obscure examples and see if they'd be interchangeable.

Try "Dace" and "Plover". 

Both could feel like either a bird or a giraffe.  There's nothing particularly giraffey or birdy about either.

Wrasse  Rhea 

Cod Jay

Barracuda Cockatoo

Finch Perch

Sturgeon  Pigeon

Nope.  Sorry, not working for me.

I am rather embarrassed that, as the local ichthyologist, I can't really add anything to this.

EDIT:

Actually, there's "darter" and "darter". See if you can figure out which one is the bird, and which one is the giraffe.

[JorgeFabregas]

Birds are really giraffe so it's a little hard to distinguish between the two.