Words on language
Jun. 29th, 2016 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easy1. We've been watching loads of Animaniacs, which means getting the theme song horribly lodged inside one's skull. Look at the alliteration and assonance in "Just for fun we run around the Warner movie lot." I weep with envy at lyricists in general. I'll never write a line as good as "That's why it's better / where it is wetter." But then I'll never write a line as good as "I'm the cool cat (meow) / Check me out."
2. Only in American English do Dot, lot, caught, and plot rhyme.
3. I can't pronounce the Korean consonant 'ㅈ' properly; it's an unaspirated 'j', which doesn't occur in English. Conversely, the English consonant 'z' doesn't occur in Korean, so is substituted with either 'ㅈ' ("Rijing Star") or "s" ("We'll be the lucky once."). This amuses me, but it comes with a lesson: it doesn't matter a damn how well Kpop idols pronounce English, because they make an absolute fortune in Asia, without having to cater to English-speaking markets at all. (By contrast there are plenty of Japanese and Mandarin singles and versions of songs.) The West, and English, are not the centre of the universe after all.
4. Here's a bilingual dad joke for you.
2. Only in American English do Dot, lot, caught, and plot rhyme.
3. I can't pronounce the Korean consonant 'ㅈ' properly; it's an unaspirated 'j', which doesn't occur in English. Conversely, the English consonant 'z' doesn't occur in Korean, so is substituted with either 'ㅈ' ("Rijing Star") or "s" ("We'll be the lucky once."). This amuses me, but it comes with a lesson: it doesn't matter a damn how well Kpop idols pronounce English, because they make an absolute fortune in Asia, without having to cater to English-speaking markets at all. (By contrast there are plenty of Japanese and Mandarin singles and versions of songs.) The West, and English, are not the centre of the universe after all.
4. Here's a bilingual dad joke for you.
