Sunday, August 01, 2010

The Linguistic Heisenberg Effect: Norwegian/Brazilian/Chinese

James Fallows offers entertaining new anecdotal insights on one of Underbelly's most deeply held convictions: the closer you look at any language-unit, the more it tends to disappear.

I'm reminded of a tour guide I met in Egypt.  He spoke his (fluent) English with a Scots burr.  He always referred to the toilets with a British slightly-prissy cuteness as "the temple of rrrrelief."

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