131
votes
Accepted
Do the Finnish have a word for getting drunk alone in your underwear?
Yes, it actually is a Finnish word used by the Finnish people.
ThisisFinland is a site for the promotion of Finland: It is associated with the Finnish Government.
Produced by the Ministry for Foreign ...
- 3,846
65
votes
Is Stanford's "Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative" real?
This is a real initiative. Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative is (or rather, was) hosted on Stanford's website.
The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative (EHLI) is a
multi-phase, multi-...
- 824
54
votes
Accepted
Did Parker Pens release an advertisement in Spanish that accidentally implied their pens would prevent pregnancy?
The earliest source of this story is Blunders in International Business by David A. Ricks (first edition 1974). He basically repeats the story you heard. The book has few footnotes, but this story ...
- 44.4k
52
votes
Do the Finnish have a word for getting drunk alone in your underwear?
It's a real word (a compound word fromed from kalsari(t) (underwear) and känni (drunkenness), both rather colloquial versions of these words) and can be found in the online dictionary of the Institute ...
- 561
49
votes
Accepted
Is Stanford's "Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative" real?
While Brian's answer was correct when they posted it 13 hours ago, as of now Stanford has apparently backpedaled:
The feedback that this work was broadly viewed as counter to inclusivity means we ...
- 664
47
votes
Accepted
Was the phrase "hello" popularized because of the name of Alexander Graham Bell's wife/girlfriend "Margaret Hello"?
No.
Thomas Edison is in fact credited with the first use of the word Hello on the telephone, and the etymology of the word is well documented.
Furthermore, Graham Bell was engaged to Mabel Gardiner ...
- 1,344
29
votes
Accepted
Is Melania Trump barely able to speak English?
Melania Trump can speak English perfectly well, well enough for the American news media.
Here are examples of interviews with her with and without Donald. In all of them she speaks English without ...
- 29k
25
votes
Accepted
Did Native Americans call European people "pale-face"?
According to the US government publication 14th Annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology (1896):
It is very doubtful if the "pale face" of romance ever existed in the Indian mind
Instead, the ...
- 104k
22
votes
In American Sign Language, does 2022 loosely translate to "bird go peace-peace"?
Not precisely, but there is a resemblance if you stretch a bit.
When signed 20, 22 - similar to the way many say it it appears thus:
Signasl.org fair usage 2022.
^^ With the finger tapping the thumb ...
- 990
21
votes
Accepted
Was "their" a singular pronoun in English before the 16th century?
Yes, from the OED blog:
The Oxford English Dictionary traces singular they back to 1375, where it appears in the medieval romance William and the Werewolf. Except for the old-style language of that ...
- 30.2k
20
votes
Accepted
Does Arabic graffiti in "Homeland" criticise the show?
According to Google Translate, "Homeland is Racist" will translate to "الوطن عنصري", which you can compare to the graffiti:
From this article
These do look very similar. In fact, the only ...
- 3,866
19
votes
Accepted
Was this Harry-Potter themed text written solely by a computer program?
No, the text was not generated entirely by a computer program. Humans worked with the algorithm to generate the sentences, selected the ones they liked best, edited them into a story, and even added ...
- 403
19
votes
Accepted
Was the official language of the Union of India selected by a single tie-breaker vote?
No.
As explained in the 1970 book Politics in India, page 146, endnote 11:
A myth has gained currency that Hindi became the official language of the Indian Union by a majority of only one vote. ...
- 104k
17
votes
Accepted
Did World War II propaganda posters tell people to "Speak American", rather than languages of the enemy?
According to Cane Fires: The Anti-Japanese Movement in Hawaii, 1865-1945:
The Speak American Campaign was launched on October 12, 1942, with much fanfare in the white press. The Service Committee ...
- 104k
17
votes
Accepted
Is the use of X for unknown quantities taken from the Arabic word "shay"?
Most likely no. X is one of many symbols used for unknowns throughout the history of mathematics, and comes from a notation in the 1600's that used several other letters alongside X. Some Arab ...
- 11.4k
14
votes
Accepted
Did Germans receive corn instead of wheat and rye after WW2 due to a translation error?
Yes, they did, as far as I can tell.
I was looking for references to this in German media/academic publications, but could not find much.
I could however find this article from the archives of "Die ...
- 944
13
votes
In ritualistic use, did "virgin blood" originally mean "unused blood"?
According a 1788 printing of The Works of Aristotle (which wasn't really by Aristotle) "virgin blood" means the blood of a virgin.
A third cause of natural barrenness is, the letting of virgins' ...
- 104k
13
votes
Accepted
Does requesting a bilingual trial often result in dismissal?
According to Justice Department guidelines federal and state courts that receive federal financial assistance only have to "take reasonable steps" to accommodate lingual needs:
The Supreme Court ...
- 246
12
votes
In American Sign Language, does 2022 loosely translate to "bird go peace-peace"?
It's a slight exaggeration to say that the numbers "translate" to a phrase, but the signs do appear to be similar enough to work as the visual equivalent of a pun.
Here are some videos ...
- 8,039
11
votes
Has Richard Dawkins never learnt a language other than English?
While the image of English-speakers as wilful monoglots is a common one, Dawkins is not one of them. He's learning German, not for practical reasons but as an atonement for the prejudice England has, ...
- 38.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Are the ingredients listed in "Macbeth" common plants?
Macbeth dates back to around 1606.
Tongue of Dog
While the most common name for the plant seems to have been hounds tongue, there are a few instances of it going by another name: Dogs tongue.
I found “...
- 30.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Do 22% of Muslim women in the UK speak little or no English?
Do 22% of Muslim women in the UK speak little or no English?
No but census data is somewhat consistent with the notion that around 22% of Muslim women, born outside the UK, report themselves, or are ...
- 24.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Are North American children adopting British accents because of Peppa Pig?
The Guardian did a short piece on this and the bottom line is straightforward:
American kids may have picked up a Britishism or two, but the claim that they’re developing a whole accent based off a ...
- 7,194
9
votes
Does Arabic graffiti in "Homeland" criticise the show?
Yes, it does.
The German newspaper Die Zeit (The Times) has also covered this event by interviewing the Arabic artist Caram Kapp, who was asked by the creators of the show to spray the graffiti.
...
- 18.7k
9
votes
Accepted
Is Arabic the 4th most common language used on internet?
With regards to this question,
How come arabs be so verbose in the field of chatting and be so unproductive in terms of internet content?
a possible answer comes from this sentence in the IWS site:...
- 302
9
votes
Is Arabic the 4th most common language used on internet?
Most likely true
There is little doubt that first 3 languages are English, Chinese and Spanish.
The contestants for number 4 spot would be:
Portugese
Russian
Hindi
Arabic
If you look at number ...
- 26.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Can people "wake up" with a new accent? (Foreign Accent Syndrome)
Foreign accent syndrome is real, and it is discussed in the scientific literature.
The term shows up in the scientific literature. A google scholar search for "Foreign Accent Syndrome" turns up about ...
- 12k
8
votes
Is Melania Trump barely able to speak English?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjx_ysYHJNo
Melania Trump has clear but accented speech.
- 197
8
votes
Accepted
Do Rohingyas speak in a Bengali dialect?
Short Answer
The claim "Rohingya is a Bengali dialect" cannot be meaningfully proven due to difficulties in defining what constitutes a dialect and what constitutes a language. But it is safe to say "...
- 196
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible