What new word did you learn today?

[Stuart Dren]

I think if not for a video game from 2001 I probably wouldn't know the word gulch.

Arroyo and Coulee are new to me, though I think I would have a hard time telling them apart.

 

[Rad Scribbler]

Sometimes this new word game surprises me. Never occurred to me that "gulch" might be unfamiliar to someone who doesn't live in the western US. Are you familiar with draw, arroyo, ravine, or coulee?

I'm only familiar with 'ravine' - the word and it's meaning.

 

[Also]

I learned that particularly in the US, lambasting need not be verbal or figurative.

What next? Do we literally rake someone over the coals? I for one haven't done that.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Are you familiar with draw, arroyo, ravine, or coulee?

As terms of geography? Just ravine. It's what we call the treed incline at the back of my yard.

 

[Schism]

I think if not for a video game from 2001 I probably wouldn't know the word gulch.

Arroyo and Coulee are new to me, though I think I would have a hard time telling them apart.

Would that be Halo?

Think I learned Arroyo from Fallout 2.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Would that be Halo?

Yep. And I refuse to call that a retro game.

 

[JLT]

turnt

which popped up in today's crossword puzzle. It means " extremely excited, wild, or drunk."
And on looking it up, I find that there was a TV series by that name that came out eight years ago. When I see things like that, I wonder where I've been, and what I've been missing.

 

[defaux]

there are several places in the US called "Whiskey Gulch"

We have a Whiskey Gully, does that count?

arroyo

had to look that one up, from Collins:

mainly Southwestern US
a steep-sided stream bed that is usually dry except after heavy rain

Spanish origin apparently.

 

[defaux]

vertiginous

very high and steep
of, relating to, or having vertigo

 

[JLT]

We have a Whiskey Gully, does that count?

Sure, why not?

had to look that one up, from Collins:

Spanish origin apparently.

Yes, arroyo is from the Spanish, when all the American Southwest was New Spain. Arroyos are particularly treacherous because, while they are usually dry as a bone, a thunderstorm can send water down them in great quantities. The water picks up all the loose stones and gravel it can, and by the time it reaches you it's like walking or driving through a cement truck's output. And there's very little warning.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Many words and names in America come from Spanish, especially in states that had a long history of being Spanish colonies (e.g. California, New Mexico, Arizona). I wouldn't be surprised if some places in Pennsylvania had words or place names of German origin.

But I'm not going to Australiansplain things like that to Americans, so I'll just stow my jawin' tackle and belay. (To quote W. S. Gilbert).

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Too late, Rath. You already did, but se perdono.

Lots of native names on the land, too.

 

[JLT]

Too late, Rath. You already did, but se perdono.

Lots of native names on the land, too.

Particularly on rivers. The white settlers of North America did their best to name things in their own languages, we still have the Potomac, the Patapsco, the Shenendoah, the Suwannee, and many others. There are quite a few "Avons" in England, from a Celtic word for "river." I'm sure that there are plenty of rivers in Australia whose names were coined by the Aborigines.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Too late, Rath. You already did, but se perdono.

Lots of native names on the land, too.

I'm sorry. *blush* I just find it interesting when I learn that names that I've used my whole life (Los Angeles and San Diego are just the tip of the spear, so to speak) come from Spanish. It's cool learning new things.

Particularly on rivers. The white settlers of North America did their best to name things in their own languages, we still have the Potomac, the Patapsco, the Shenendoah, the Suwannee, and many others. There are quite a few "Avons" in England, from a Celtic word for "river." I'm sure that there are plenty of rivers in Australia whose names were coined by the Aborigines.

Don't forget Mississippi and Michigan! There's loads more here: English words 'borrowed' from Indigenous languages of the Americas. Caucus, Chipmunk, Cisco, Hickory, Hominy, Husky ... Tomato? Who knew?

I only bring this up because, from time to time, I read stories online about bigots who object to store clerks and so on helping other people by speaking Spanish to them. ("You're in America! Speak English!" and so on). And it reminds me how stupid that argument is, and how much poorer English would be without the influences of other languages.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”​

― James D. Nicoll

 

[JLT]

I'm sorry. *blush* I just find it interesting when I learn that names that I've used my whole life (Los Angeles and San Diego are just the tip of the spear, so to speak) come from Spanish. It's cool learning new things.


Don't forget Mississippi and Michigan! There's loads more here: English words 'borrowed' from Indigenous languages of the Americas. Caucus, Chipmunk, Cisco, Hickory, Hominy, Husky ... Tomato? Who knew?

Well spotted. You can add skunk, coyote, wapiti, moose, and about a hundred others. It's a natural consequence of the colonists, who had never seen these animals before, asking the indigenous people what they were called. (Curiously, the North American moose is nearly identical to the Scandinavian elk, so they already had a name in the English language for it.)

I imagine that the same was true for Australia, where the indigenous people gave English such words as kangaroo, koala, and wallaby. And probably "billabong" and possibly "jumbuck" as well, two words that have since filtered into what is the de facto national anthem.

I only bring this up because, from time to time, I read stories online about bigots who object to store clerks and so on helping other people by speaking Spanish to them. ("You're in America! Speak English!" and so on). And it reminds me how stupid that argument is, and how much poorer English would be without the influences of other languages.

There's a probably apocryphal story about a New Mexican woman in a line at a bank speaking on her cell phone. The guy behind her says "You ought to speak English or go back to Mexico, where you came from." The woman replies, "Actually I was talking in Navaho. Why don't you Englishmen go back to where you came from?"

And here's a true story, which I actually witnessed. A postal clerk was speaking with a Mexican worker who was trying to send some money home. The Mexican was speaking in halting, imperfect English and the clerk was responding in halting, imperfect Spanish. At first, I was thinking, "This makes no sense." Then I realized it made perfect sense, because each person was speaking a language that the other person was most likely to understand, thereby minimizing the risk of misunderstanding.

 

[Homer Potvin]

because each person was speaking a language that the other person was most likely to understand, thereby minimizing the risk of misunderstanding.

That is by far the best way to do it. I can speak Spanish a zillion times better than I can understand it. Every time I speak a few cogent sentences a native speaker will respond like a gatling gun. I have to say, "Puedo hablar español mejor de lo que lo entiendo," before everything gets out of hand. This comes up all the time as my city is 45% Hispanic, and if you exclude the East Side where the millionaires and Ivy Leaguers reside, it's probably the majority. A lifetime in restaurants helps, too, though between the Mexican, Guatemalan, Hondurian, and Dominican dialects, I've probably acquired my own broken Spanish white dude pigdin. I can usually tell where somebody is from by how they swear, though.