Greek magic spell word of the day: LAILAM (perhaps borrowed from Semitic, as a number of such words are - cf. the Hebrew lĕʿôlām, "for eternity"; the vocalism would fit with SEMESILAM, "eternal sun", cf. Hebrew Šemeš ʿôlām).

I've recently visited #Austria, and I have to say, if they want people to stop confusing them with #Australia, they might want to stop using so many boomerangs in their logos. #design #logos #geography

An alleged rapist blames his ignorance of #English and use of #GoogleTranslate for his crime. I am speechless. So disgusting. #language #rape #NoMeansNo

If like me, you assumed "bucket list" is an old or even oldish phrase, think again. It was coined or popularized by the movie The Bucket List from 2007! It comes from "kicking the bucket," as this is a list of things to do before you die. #language #language #etymology #movies

A very specific set of totally not fake books, spotted in a hotel lobby in Seoul. Photo by: Shaul Holtzman #language #english #fail

The #Hebrew word for "ballot box," also applied to the voting place, is KALpi. This is a word of #Greek origin (kalpe, kalpis), originally referring to any box or an urn, and specifically one used for drawing lots. From betting to voting 🧐 #IsraElex19v2 #language #etymology

I heard a waitress referring to pork as Shenkin (a Tel Aviv street) instead of Schinken (#German for "ham", a #Hebrew euphemism for pork). Language change or one person's idiosyncrasy? #language #food

In #Hebrew, when I say "אין לי מצב רוח" (I have no mood), I mean I have a bad mood. You'd think "יש לי מצב רוח" (I have a mood) would be the opposite, but it also means "I have a bad mood". Assumably, both are the result of omission (either of "good" or "bad"). #language #slang

Some Israeli #airline #etymology: The name or #Israel's national airline, El Al, translates as "upwards" or "skywards." Competitor Arkia's name means "I shall soar." Israir is self-explanatory, but they expect you to pronounce it as Isra-air, despite that not making much sense.

I was looking up synonyms for <bullshit>, which led me to <nonsense>, which led me to <trumpery>. trumpery: (n) practices or beliefs that are superficially or visually appealing but have little real value or worth; (adj) showy but worthless, delusive or shallow

'nice' and 'shit' come from the same PIE ancestor no, I'm not just making this stuff up

The words for horse and car share a common route. Source: buff.ly/2FOu14L

I thought it was weird enough that the #Hebrew words for man (ish) and woman (iSHA) have unrelated #etymology, but #TodayILearned their inherent misogyny: it's likely that ish meant "strong", and iSHA meant "weak". Great article in Hebrew by Elon Gilad: haaretz.co.il/magazine/the-e…

The Ancient Greek word for “laymen” ῐ̓δῐώτης (idiṓtēs) entered Hebrew twice: Once in antiquity as הֶדְיוֹט (Mishnah Yoma 7:5) and once in the 20th century via English as אִידְיוֹט.

"Fear is the mind killer, that perches in the soul" #quote #Dune #poetry

The Hebrew word for "skirt" is חֲצָאִית (xa-tsa-IT). This noun is actually a feminine adjectival form of the Hebrew word for "half" חֲצִי (xa-TSI) since it was born by clipping the short-lived phrase שִׂמְלָה חֲצָאִית ("half dress").