July on Warpcast

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https://warpcast.com/~/channel/july

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July pfp

I’m fascinated by “semantic fossils” that exist in the world I.e. where we use a phrase / word like “hot off the press”, “floppy disk icon”, “riding shotgun” or “horsepower” but we don’t use a shotgun in cars anymore, or horses for measuring power or floppy disks anymore One day, we’re going to be on another planet, and some kid who’s never been on earth is gonna wonder why some things are still measured in 365 days

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@sinusoidalsnail

This is one of my favorite linguistic things to think about. I also like thinking about what small differences by region might be caused by. For example, “turn the lights off” / “shut the lights off” / “cut the lights” / “put the lights out.” Like, maybe some of those are due to the type of lighting technology available in a region at the time the phrase was solidified. “Turning” a gas lamp, vs “cutting” an electric circuit, etc

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This happens with gestures too, although it can be fluid. Most people still make a phone gesture with their index and thumb extended, mimicking a kind of phone they’ve never once used (though this is changing… apparently Gen alpha is more likely to put a flat palm out in front of them now for “phone.”) Some will also make the physical roll-up-the-window gesture as well, despite car windows not working like that since the 90s.

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Ben pfp

No shotguns - have you been to Texas?

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Wev 🐰 pfp

Not sure I want to know where "costs an arm and a leg" comes from 😬

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kbc pfp

There are sentence structures Irish people say that English speakers don't, because they borrow from Irish. ofc can't find an example right now

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Naomi pfp

ok but could you also be fascinated with sending me a roc camera some time? 😇 else kid on other planet will have to wonder why we never started zk-proving pictures we took.

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Tony D’Addeo pfp

same I remember the epiphany I had re the texture of language after learning salary derives from the latin word for salt in 10th grade latin class bugs / debugging w.r.t. code is a fun one I learned recently this whole book is a gem https://www.amazon.com/Etymologicon-Circular-Through-Connections-Language/dp/0425260798/ref=asc_df_0425260798?mcid=368f786a80f3396393abaac2d201e1f6&hvocijid=6735379431779879964-0425260798-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6735379431779879964&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028313&hvtargid=pla-2281435179538&psc=1

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Years ago I found myself in the basement of the Strand in NYC, flipping through a revised version of V.H collins Idiom collection. The team behind it had travelled all over America for 30 years collecting idioms from all kinds of nationalities and anglicized them. @july I have no doubt you’d find these fascinating.

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tyler ↑ pfp

Have you seen that video that goes through all the sailing metaphors we use all the time? And yet how many of us have ever been on a sailboat, let out to sea?

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shazow pfp

"highway robbery" is another one I noticed recently

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Mac Budkowski ᵏ pfp

Mac Budkowski ᵏ

Gen Z already ask "Why does Save has this floppy disk icon?" :)

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logonaut.eth 🎩 ツ ↑ 🍖 pfp

logonaut.eth 🎩 ツ ↑ 🍖

i would absolutely join a /semantic-fossils channel

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lingual remnants

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from French sémantique, from Greek sēmantikos ‘significant’, from sēmainein ‘signify’, from sēma ‘sign’. mid 16th century (denoting a fossilized fish found, and believed to have lived, underground): from French fossile, from Latin fossilis ‘dug up’, from fodere ‘dig’.

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We need to roll back the tape to understand these.

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Alok Vasudev pfp

> but we don’t use a shotgun in cars anymore speak for yourself

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flops pfp

or artificial intelligence being considered artificial

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Branksy Pop pfp

Almost but not quite like "to mint" (an NFT)...or cut/copy/paste Original meaning still holds, but it also acquired a new more frequent one

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Breck Yunits pfp

But when that day comes, all of us here will be dead as a doornail (a phrase that is understood by those who lived in the 1300's-1500's, but isn't interpretable today, when nails cost fractions of a cent and thieves aren't stealing nails from doors, leading to the practice of hammering them in beyond further use)

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