pejoration, Euphemism treadmill
2021年02月28日
What’s interesting to me is that “retarded” was once an accepted and professional term for a person with mental or developmental disabilities, which has now fallen victim to a phenomenon called pejoration or the “Euphemism treadmill” (a term coined by Steven Pinker). This is the process by which words for taboo or negatively associated subjects (bodily functions, disabilities, death) are born as euphemisms (more polite ways of talking about a subject) and then, gradually, start to aquire negativity from negative use, and eventually are shunned and replaced by a new euphemism.
PR
cardinal , ordinal numeral
2021年01月19日
Each of these uses a cardinal rather than an ordinal numeral for the day, whether the year is expressed or not (i.e., July 24 or 24 July, not July 24th or 24th July).
Outside of these conventional formats, our recommendation would be to spell out ordinals for the day of the week even when the month is mentioned: the twenty-fourth of July; the twenty-fourth (but the Fourth of July or the Fourth for the US holiday; see CMOS 8.89).
But keep in mind that this rule applies primarily to formal, long-form prose—so it’s possibly a little too formal for many contexts; if you prefer numerals, or if you need to use them to save space, you have our blessing (the 24th of July, or the 24th). And if you follow Chicago’s alternative system of spelling out only one through nine, an all-numeral approach for days will facilitate consistency (e.g., we’ll be offering tours on the 1st, 2nd, and 24th of July).
December 12, 1965 or 12 December 1965
I've done journalistic transcription, and even if the person speaking says, for example, "April 15th" we're required to type it as "April 15". Even though, in your head, your pronounce it as "April 15th" when you read it. However, when the speaker says, for example, "The 15th of April" it is typed out as just that.
Outside of these conventional formats, our recommendation would be to spell out ordinals for the day of the week even when the month is mentioned: the twenty-fourth of July; the twenty-fourth (but the Fourth of July or the Fourth for the US holiday; see CMOS 8.89).
But keep in mind that this rule applies primarily to formal, long-form prose—so it’s possibly a little too formal for many contexts; if you prefer numerals, or if you need to use them to save space, you have our blessing (the 24th of July, or the 24th). And if you follow Chicago’s alternative system of spelling out only one through nine, an all-numeral approach for days will facilitate consistency (e.g., we’ll be offering tours on the 1st, 2nd, and 24th of July).
December 12, 1965 or 12 December 1965
I've done journalistic transcription, and even if the person speaking says, for example, "April 15th" we're required to type it as "April 15". Even though, in your head, your pronounce it as "April 15th" when you read it. However, when the speaker says, for example, "The 15th of April" it is typed out as just that.
neologism、mondegreen、eggcorn
2021年01月19日
red packets お年玉
2020年09月08日
They gave her generous red packets and raised her monthly salary from $300 to $600.
hyphens and adverbs (Say no!)
2020年06月28日
mondegreen
eggcorn
I'm conflicted as to whether a mondegreen and an eggcorn are the same thing. They're very close, but mondegreens seem to be more linked to verse.