Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Many people have their own idea of what they find funny, but these scientists conducted an experiment to find the funniest words in the English language. The scientists found that funny words become universally funny depending on length, letters use, similarity to other words, and relation to emotions.

Has American English become homogenized? Have our regional ways of saying particular things - sometimes in very particular ways - receded into the past? Or do we talk as funny as ever?

rather funny take on American metaphors from a Hungarian linguist

Every town has the same two malls: the one white people go to and the one white people used to go to. - Chris Rock translation without rhetoric: every town has 2 malls a good one and a junk one I know this sounds strange, but as a kid, I was really shy. Painfully shy. The turning point was freshman year, when I was the biggest geek alive. No one, I mean no one, even talked to me. -Jim Carrey translation without rhetoric: as a kid i was shy, but when I became a freshman no one talked to me because I was a geek

Funny Monty Python video on argument not necessarily pertaining to logical fallacies. However, I challenge others to find at least one logical fallacy in this chaotic argument.

This article goes over the subtleties of sarcasm and why at times it has negative effects

I was surprised by this article and by the fact that sometimes, our seemingly boring moments in life has the potential to transform into a great college essay. This article made me change my views of college essays and reexamine what topics I want to write about.

I liked the ideas this essay shared because I realized that if I were to have written my college essay prior to reading this article, my essay would've been similar to the majority of students who submit college essays. This site stresses the importance of being different and that having humility, humor, and personal stories in college essays are attractive. But the article did imply that there are limits and that some things such as torturing animals and showing inconsideration to other people, are inappropriate.

It seems more common now for counselors and advisors to recommend writing about everyday things, but with our own personal "flair." So it was helpful to read in this article about how there are some negative everyday experiences that are important to leave out.

"Birds learn to sing their songs and babies learn to make the sounds of their language in the same way.... Furthermore, both birds and humans go through a period [critical period] when learning is best accomplished... the brain architecture supporting babbling and birdsong is similar...the same mutated gene, FOXP2, is implicated in both [birdsong and speech]."

What a find! He talks about so many of the things we've touched on, and the fact that he titles his post "Birds R Us" is just too funny. :) I like that he provides the links to the original research, too.

Fox TV news comedy that has a similar format to The Daily Show. It's interesting to see which of the two shows you find more funny, and what that says about your enthymemes, especially your suppressed premises. (Thanks to Michael Sylvester for identifying this.)

"Be concise, Be honest, Be an individual, Be coherent, Be accurate, Be vivid, Be likable, Be cautious in your use of humor, Be controversial, and Be smart" HOW?!?!?!?!?!?!? Quite a bit to take in and remember while working away on a concise paper which may or may not decide our future. Just a few small nuggets of gold (interpret as you please): "If you go over 700 words, you are straining their patience, which no one should want to do." "Not everyone has to be the star at everything." "The whole application is a series of snapshots of what you do. It is inevitably incomplete. The colleges expect this. Go along with them." "If you write about Nietzsche, spell his name right." "Subtlety is good." "Be funny only if you think you have to. Then think again." "It is fine to write about politics, religion, something serious, as long as you are balanced and thoughtful. Don't pretend you have the final truth." "Colleges are intellectual places, a fact they almost always keep a secret..." From this, I take: Be human. But be an awesome human.

4. Be coherent.  I thought that this website was really helpful because I am known to like to write a lot and sometimes want to write so much that I ramble a lot.  I don't want to sound busy but not scattered or superficial either.

I feel like by setting up some of these guidelines, it is kind of changing our experiences or ideas we want to write. We have to find something coherent to the question and on top of that be likeable. what if what you think is likeable isn't the same as what the college people want?

Even though this is an .com site it's written by someone who has experience in this matter and it's really interesting because it basically tells you what to do. And when the author did this, he got into a really good school.

This website has many well-written examples of sample college essays. The only problem with these is that they are not categorized into either well written, or really long. How to conceive, create, and perfect it essay is right because it is very difficult to start your essay. Basically this essay is talking about how this person got writer's block, and how she overcame it.

We've all laughed at some horrible puns and made them as well! This article explores why English enables us to create word play and the extreme level to which people have taken it! For example, the pun masters of this world dubbed Gandhi as "a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis" for his barefoot and food fasting lifestyle. There are even competitions to show off your skill.

Researchers have found that English has seemed to organize itself based on spelling on its own. The four suffixes (-ous like in hazardous, -ic like in allergic, -al like in final and -y like in funny) have had consistent spellings over time. Researchers looked back at samples from around 1000 years ago and found that certain suffixes won over another spelling.

Stony Brook University recently discovered that the history and spelling of suffixes of English words is more orderly and organized than previously thought. This research is now being expanded with more tests on English speakers being able to learn to read more quickly, more consistently, and more fluently.

This article talks about how coronavirus is changing our language. In this article, new lingo appropriate to the coronavirus. However, the new lingo takes more of a humorous tone that explores the new words as novelties rather than everyday slang. One funny exam was the word "covidiot" referring to someone who doesn't comply to coronavirus restrictions.

This article talks about how sarcasm is implemented across cultures and generations, but the nuances of sarcasm used changes with who it is used with and where. Most commonly participants of the study stated that they used sarcasm with friends and to "be funny".