Categoria: Appunti

From the 16th century AD onward, English writers who were scholars of Greek and Latin literature tried to link English words to their Graeco-Latin counterparts. They did this by adding silent letters to make the real or imagined links more obvious. Thus det became debt (to link it to Latin debitum), dout became doubt (to link it to Latin dubitare), sissors became scissors and sithe became scythe (as they were wrongly thought to come from Latin scindere), iland became island (as it was wrongly thought to come from Latin insula), ake became ache (as it was wrongly thought to come from Greek akhos), and so forth.

English-language spelling reform - Wikipedia

A causa dello scherno egli si sentiva un paria; e sentendosi un paria, si comportava come tale, ciò che aumentava la diffidenza verso di lui e intensificava il disprezzo e l'ostilità suscitati dai suoi difetti fisici.

Aldous Huxley, Il mondo nuovo, ISBN 978-88-04-48780-7, p. 55.

The “un-naturalness” of a solar eclipse is eerie and chilling. All becomes hushed and there is a strong uncanny sensation of impending disaster, of being within the control of some awful power. In ancient times, the awesome phenomenon must have aroused great fear, anxiety and wonder. The combatants saw the eclipse as disapproval of their warfare, and as a warning. They ceased fighting and a peace agreement was reached between the two kings.

Thales of Miletus [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

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Even more striking is that, on average, Japanese and Dutch 25-34 year-olds who have only completed high school easily outperform Italian or Spanish university graduates of the same age.

OECD Skills Outlook 2013, p. 33

Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.

Politics and the English Language / George Orwell

Psychics and astrologers were employed to attack the enemy and plan tactics based on the alignment of the stars. Nazis tried to create super-soldiers, using steroids, in a twisted interpretation of Nietzsche’s übermensch, and they sought to reanimate the dead—coffins of famous Germanic warriors were found hidden in a mine, with plans to bring them back to life at the war’s end.

Hitler’s Hunt for the Holy Grail and the Ghent Altarpiece

Ai loro occhi, io sarei quella che – vedendo una persona affogare in mare – non gli lancerebbe un salvagente perché non ha il marchio CE.

Perché su Stamina i toni sono così violenti - Wired.it