Language Variation Reflects Context, Community, and Evolving Norms

Key Quotes

"one of my favorites is segocia s e g o t i a segocia and grant do you know what that word means i do i had included an entry for that in one of my books the official dictionary of unofficial english yeah i didn't uh of course take it back as far as its full history but yeah it just means a friend it's a term of endearment right right you're my old segocia"

Martha Barnette introduces "segocia" as a new Irish English word added to the Oxford English Dictionary, defining it as a term of endearment meaning "friend." Grant Barrett confirms its inclusion in his own work, highlighting its use as an affectionate term between people.

"well you know in my dictionaries i and i have a tough reference works here as you can imagine there have been a number of different collections of words for left handed in ireland and one of my favorite ones is clapperclawed my goodness clapperclawed that means left handed left handed yeah clapperclawed i don't know that it's used anymore but it was recorded"

Martha Barnette shares another Irish English word, "ciotog," meaning "left-handed," noting its historical shift from a potentially negative connotation to a more neutral term like "lefty." Grant Barrett then introduces "clapperclawed" as another, perhaps older, Irish term for "left-handed" that he found in his reference works.

"well one thing i'm hearing right away is that there's a difference in stress hammock tends to have a stress on the first syllable where hammock tends to have a stress on the second syllable it's actually really hard to say anything but hammock if you stress the first syllable you know it's interesting if you check most major all major dictionaries as a matter of fact in both the us and the uk you will find the hammock pronunciation is the only one that they give"

Grant Barrett analyzes the pronunciation difference between "hammock" and "hammock," noting the stress shift and that major dictionaries typically only list the "hammock" pronunciation. He suggests that dictionaries may be missing other common pronunciations based on fieldwork.

"i said to her you know how can you love this stuff more than somebody that i love so much and she said that's not somebody that's something and uh i firmly disagreed and we had our you know a little debate about it and she ended up looking it up in the dictionary and the dictionary definition said that it has to be a person or it used the word it says that it's any person um but i feel like that's too limited of a definition and it makes when calling a whether it's an animal or anything the any living being something just feels uh not right"

Chris Freeman recounts a debate with his mother about whether a pet dog should be referred to as "somebody" or "something," with his mother citing a dictionary definition that limits "somebody" to people. Chris argues that this definition feels too limited when referring to beloved animals.

"so your question in a nutshell is uh kind of let me if i can rephrase it a little bit is like before the printing press what was the standard for spelling or was there one and the answer was no there wasn't one not really but there were some times when spelling in english became a little more standardized and there are just these kind of touch points where things happened in history where spelling got a little clearer kind of through accidents of history"

Grant Barrett rephrases Dan's question about spelling standards before the printing press, confirming that there wasn't a strict standard. He explains that certain historical events and influences, like the adoption of the Roman alphabet and the Norman Conquest, led to moments of increased standardization in English spelling.

"so the problem that you do is to include the article the and the article in the and i've got more if you want 'em but i thought those two were no i think that's sufficient oh but christy i have to say i would never say where is my copy of the the i would never say it i never in spoken language i just that would be weird yeah i think that i think it is a written versus spoken divide it's fine to read it and see it in print but to say it sounds ridiculous and i would mock whoever said it relentlessly continuously for a very long time"

Martha Barnette presents evidence from the New Yorker's own style guide, showing the inclusion of "the" in their title even in written contexts. However, she expresses that saying "the New Yorker" aloud sounds ridiculous and unnatural, suggesting a divide between written and spoken language conventions.

"so that's why rope is is line in in seafaring and it's just that's just the way it is i hate to say that because we'd love for there to be a wonderful story or reason but sometimes there isn't although sometimes particularly with boats there's a little bit of a avoidance of classism or elitism there there's a line in richard maine's book the language of sailing where he talks about the basics of referring to seacraft and he talks about ship versus boat and how landlubbers will often call things boats that people who know the sea would never call a boat they would call it a ship"

Grant Barrett explains that the distinction between "rope" and "line" is often dictated by the custom of the trade, particularly in seafaring. He notes that while there might not be a grand linguistic reason, adhering to these professional terms is crucial to avoid being perceived as an outsider, like a "landlubber."