People who write alright are all right

Now it's possible I've written a post on this before. I don't think I have though so I'm writing it now, albeit with the small chance of my repeating myself.

I'll be brief. Already doesn't mean all ready. Always doesn't mean all ways. Alone doesn't mean all one. In each case, the first word has developed from a combination of the other two words to ultimately express a new thought or idea. This is a highly useful feature of language development.

Alright doesn't mean all right.
If I say "they're all right", then I am only talking sense if the "they" in this instance have just all said something like "two times two is four". In that case, they are all right. If one of them says "two times two is twenty-two" then they're no longer all right, as one of them is wrong.

If I say "they're alright" then it is possible that they have all said "two times two is four" but this is an irrelevance. Of far more importance is whether the bus that has just threatened to flatten them has done so or not. If it hasn't, then "they're alright" is a sensible comment. If it has, even if it's only flattened some of them, then "they're alright" is ill-judged, regardless of whether or not they've just said that two times two is four or twenty-two.

This is pretty obvious, but nevertheless worth saying. I don't have any dictionaries to hand so I can't tell you if they all agree with me or, in other words, if they're all right or not. In any case, I'm not here to bag on dictionaries. Most are not perfect because they contain many errors resulting from the fact that they are constantly playing catch-up. But they're generally alright.

A test of Eminem's estimations

English translation follows the German text.

Hi. Das hier ist wieder nur auf Englisch. Es tut mir leid. Ich sage Bescheid, wenn es wieder was Deutsches hier zu lesen gibt. Ich kann die Sprache noch, ehrlich.
Bis denne.



Hi. This is only in English again. Sorry. I'll let you know when there's something on here in German again - I can still speak the language, honest.
Until then though, you can enjoy today's post in English.
"I guess that's why they call it windowpane." This is one of Eminem's worst lines, where he suggests that he has come to the conlusion that "windowpane" is somehow related to "pain" because when you look through windows at unhappy events it can hurt.
Being thorough linguists, we won't let him get away with that so easily. Welcome back, Mr. Oxford Dictionary of English.
1 windowpane: noun 1 a pane of glass in a window. 2 a broad flatfish with numerous dark spots, found in the western Atlantic. Also called SAND DAB. - Scophthalmus aquosus, family Scophthalmidae (or Bothidae).
Now I am quite sure that Eminem is talking about definition 1 because he also mentions looking through a window and doesn't mention peering into an aquarium anywhere. Nevertheless, we should probably take a look at what a SAND DAB is.
2 sand dab: noun a small flatfish which is found in the Pacific coastal waters of America. - Genus Citharichthys, family Bothidae: several species. - another tem for WINDOWPANE.
Now however confusing it may be that the 'sand dab' and 'windowpane' are apparently synonyms and yet belong to different geni and swim in different waters, it is of little relevance to our debate, because we are dealing with definition 1 of 'windowpane'.
To see if 'windowpane' is related to 'pain', we need to take a look at some more definitions. If you've been following, you'll remember that a 'windowpane' was 'a pane of glass in a window', which is presumably where the morpheme 'pane' in the word also comes from.
3 pane: noun 1 a single sheet of glass in a window or door. - Computing a separate defined area within a windo for the display of, or interaction with, a specified part of that window's application or output. 2 a sheet of page of stamps. ORIGIN late Middle English (originally denoting a piece of something, such as a fence or strip of cloth): from Old French pan, from Latin pannus 'piece of cloth'.
Now we need to look at 'pain'.
4 pain: noun [mass noun] 1 highly unpleasant physical sensation caused by illness or injury: she's in great pain. [count noun] chest pains. - (also pain in the neck or vulgar slang arse) informal - an annoying or tedious person or thing: she's a pain. 2 mental suffering or distress: the pain of loss. 3 (pains great care or trouble: she took pains to see that everyone ate well. - verb [with obj.] cause mental or physical pain to: it pains me to say this | her legs had been paining her. - [no obj.] chiefly N. Amer. (of a part of the body) hurt: sometimes my right hand would pain. - PHRASES for one's pains informal, as an unfairly bad return for one's efforts: he was sued for his pains. no pain, no gain suffering is necessary in order to achieve something. [ORIGIN orginally used as a slogan in fitness classes.] on (or under) pain of the penalty for disobedience or shortcoming being: they proscribed all such practices on pain of death. - ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense 'suffering inflicted punishment for an offence'): from Old French peine, from Latin poena 'penalty', later 'pain'.
A careful study of the lyrics shows that Eminem is referring to definition noun 2, which is of little importance because all the meanings have the same origin, but still nice to establish for reasons of completeness. Had we been unable to find a definition fitting with what Eminem is on about, then we would have maybe had to reconsider this whole exercise. But as it is, we have a postive match both for 'windowpane' and for 'pain'. The former, however, comes from Old French pan, from Latin pannus 'piece of cloth', whilst the latter also comes Old French from Latin, but from peine, from poena 'penalty', later 'pain'.
'Poena' and 'pannus' are clearly different - they don't even look a bit the same, so I guess, even if it does mean taking a stance opposed to Eminem's, that that isn't why they call it windowpane at all.
See you tomorrow.

A nice analysis

English translation follows the German text.

Hallo. Dieser Post ist leider nur auf English, weil es um so eine auf einem Wortspiel basierende englische linguistische Analyse geht. Wer ein bisschen Englisch kann, kann gerne den englischen Text lesen.
Ciao,
Herr Bench



Hi. This post is unfortunately only in English because it's about an English linguistic analysis based on a pun. If you are reading and understanding this, then that shouldn't matter as it means you are at least able to passively comprehend written English, so you should be fine with the rest of the post. Here it is.
My version of the Oxford Dictionary of English contains the following entries (here I only mean main entries) which begin with the letters 'pant':
1 pant
2 Pantegruelian
3 pantalettes
4 pantaloon
5 Pantanal
6 pantec
7 pantechnicon
8 Pantelleria
9 Panthalassa
10 pantheism
11 pantheon
12 panther
13 panther cap
14 panties
15 pantihose
16 pantile
17 Pantisocracy
18 panto
19 panto-
20 Pantocrator
21 pantograph
22 pantomime
23 pantomime dame
24 pantomime horse
25 Pantone
26 pantothenate
27 pantothenic acid
28 pantoum
29 pantry
30 pantryman
31 pants
32 pantsuit
33 pantsula
34 pantun
35 panty girdle
36 pantyhose
37 pantywaist

That makes 37 entries in total.
Of those, the following have an ORIGIN given.
1 pant: Middle English: related to Old French pantaisier 'be agitated, gasp', based on Greek phantasioun 'cause to imagine', from phantasia (see FANTASY).
2 Pantagruelian: late 17th cent.: from Pantagruel (the name of an enormous giant in Rabelais's novel Pantagruel (1532)) + -IAN.
4 pantaloon: late 16th cent.: from French pantalon, from the Italian name Pantalone 'Pantaloon'.
6 pantec: 1970s: abbreviation of PANTECHNICON.
7 pantechnicon: mid 19th cent.: from PAN- 'all' + tekhnikon 'piece of art', originally the name of a bazaar in London for all kinds of artistic work, later converted into a furniture warehouse.
9 Panthalassa: late 19th cent.: from PAN- 'all' + Greek thalassa 'sea'.
10 pantheism: mid 18th cent.: from PAN- 'all' + Greek theos 'god' + -ISM.
11 pantheon: late Middle English (referring especially to the Pantheon, a large circular temple in Rome): via Latin from Greek pantheion, from pan 'all' + theion 'holy (from theos 'god').
12 panther: Middle English: from Old French pantere, from Latin panthera, from Greek panther. In Latin, pardus 'leopard' also existed: the two terms led to confusion: until the mid 19th cent. many taxonomists regarded the panther and the leopard as separate species.
16 pantile: mid 17th cent.: from PAN1 + TILE, probably suggested by Dutch dakpan, literally roof pan'.
17 Pantisocracy: late 18th cent.: from PANTO- 'all' + Greek isokratia 'equality of power'.
19 panto-: from Greek pas, pant- 'all'.
20 Pantocrator: late 19th cent.: via Latin from Greek, 'ruler over all'.
21 pantograph: early 18th cent.: from PANTO- 'all, universal' + Greek -graphos 'writing'.
22 pantomime: late 16th cent.: (first used in the Latin form and denoting an actor using mime): from French pantomime or Latin pantomimus, from Greek pantomimos 'imitator of all' (see PANTO-, MIME).
25 Pantone: 1960s: an invented name.
27 pantothenic acid: 1930s: pantothenic from Greek pantothen 'from every side' (with allusion to its widespread occurence).
28 pantoum: late 18th cent.: Malay pantun.
29 pantry: Middle English: from Anglo-Norman-French panterie, from paneter 'baker', based on late Latin panarius 'bread seller', from Latin panis 'bread'.
31 pants: mid 19th cent.: abbreviation of pantaloons (see PANTALOON).
33 pantsula: perhaps related to Zula p(h)antsula 'strike sharply (with a whip)', reference to elements of the dance style.
37 pantywaist: 1930s: extended use of the term's literal sense 'child's garment consisting of panties attached to a bodice'.

That makes 22 entries with a specified origin. The others either have an origin self-evidently related to one of the others e.g. pantomime horse being related to pantomime, or they have an origin which we can assume to be related e.g. Pantanal is probably somehow also related to one of the others, or at least to PAN- or PANTO-. So we're at 22 for the moment.
Now, some of the origin descriptions further reference other words, so, being thorough linguists, we should really see what their origins are to make sure we don't miss out anything important. Here we go.
1 pant --> FANTASY: late Middle English> from Old French fantasie, from Latin phantasia, from Greek 'imagination, appearance', later 'phantom', from phantazein 'make visible'. From the 16th to the 19th cents the Latinized spelling phantasy was also used.
7 pantechnicon, 9 Panthalassa, 10 pantheism --> PAN-: from Greek pan, neuter of pas 'all'.
16 pantile --> PAN1: Old English panne, of West Germanic origin: related to Dutch pan, German Pfanne, perhaps based on Latin patina 'dish'.

As is clear, this doesn't actually give us 3 additional origins, but rather exposes those with PAN- as the origin as being similary original to those with PANTO-.
All of that means that we are left with just the following genuinely distinct origins, which I will assign letters to so that we can keep track of them:
A: from Greek phantazein 'make visible'. (1)
B: from Pantagruel. (2)
C: from the Italian name Pantalone 'Pantaloon'. (3, 4, 14, 15, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37)
D: from Greek pas 'all'. (6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, probably 5, 8)
E: from Greek panther. (12, 13)
F: related to Dutch pan, German Pfanne, perhaps based on Latin patina 'dish'. (16)
G: an invented name. (25)
H: Malay pantun. (28, 34)
I: from Latin panis 'bread'. (29, 30)
J: perhaps related to Zula p(h)antsula 'strike sharply (with a whip)'. (33)

J is the tenth letter of the alphabet, which means that in total there are ten different types of pant. Or, as people sometimes say colloquially, ten different types of pants.
Besides that stunning revelation, I hope you've inferred correctly that leopards and panthers are the same species, which will at least give you the edge in any conversation with many of the early 19th century taxonomists you're likely to come across. You're welcome.
See you tomorrow.

Alarm Clock Britain

English translation follows the German text.

Hallo.
"Alle Wörterbücher sind Scheiße." Dieser Satz trifft nicht ganz zu, aber Online-Wörterbücher, die nach dem Wiki-Prinzip funktionieren, laufen schon Gefahr, Scheiße zu sein und wisst ihr warum?
Denn sie werden von Usern kompiliert (User können Begriffe und Übersetzungen quasi selbst eintragen), die davon profitieren, dass viele Begriffe im Wörterbuch sind. Ein Übersetzer, der Schwierigkeiten beim Übersetzen hat, kann einfach etwas Ungefähres schreiben und dieses Ungefähre sicherheitshalber in ein Online-Wörterbuch eintragen, damit sein Arbeitgeber/Redakteur den Begriff da sieht, wenn er zur Kontrolle online nachcheckt, ob die Übersetzung akzeptierbar ist. Teufelskreis.
Ich weiß nicht, ob Begiffe in der Übersetzungscommunity sich auf diesem Wege etabliert haben, aber ich wäre nicht sehr überrascht.
Blogger sind keine Übersetzer (vom Fach), aber sie können auch zur Etablierung von Begriffen beitragen. Und zwar:
Indem sie, zum Beispiel, Links zu anderen Blogs auf ihrem Blog haben, in denen bestimmte Begriffe benutzt werden. Gleichzeitig nutzen sie selbst diese Begriffe UND sie raten ihren Lesern, diese Begriffe mit der neu eingebauten Suchfunktion auf ihrem Blog zu suchen, wobei die Leser dann die Blogposts sowohl im eigenen Blog wie in den verlinkten finden, die diese Begriffe enthalten.
Ich mache das jetzt:
Liebe Leser, wo auch immer Sie sich in Alarm Clock Britain (oder anderswo) aufhalten, bitte suchen Sie den Begriff "Alarm Clock Britain" (mit oder ohne Gänsefüßchen) mit der hier neu eingebauten Suchfunktion. Wenn Sie dann einen Link zu einem andern Blog angeboten bekommen, folgen Sie ihm! Folgen Sie ihm!



"All dictionaries are useless." This sentence is not entirely accurate, but online-dictionaries which operate according to the Wiki principle do run the danger of being useless and do you know why?
Because they are compiled by users (users can basically add terms and translations themselves), who benefit from the fact that there are lots of terms in the dictionary. A translator, who has difficulties when translating, can just write something approximate and then enter this approximate something into an online-dictionary to cover his back so that his employer/editor then sees the term when he decides to make an online control check to see if the translation is acceptable. Vicious circle.
I don't know if terms have managed to establish themselves in this way in the translation community, but I wouldn't be all that surprised.
Bloggers aren't (trained) translators, but they can also contribute to the establishment of terminology. And this is how:
By, for example, having links to other blogs on their blog, in which particular terms are used. At the same time they then use these terms themselves AND advise their readers to search for these terms with the newly added search function on their blog, whereupon the readers then find the posts containing these terms both in the blog in question and in the ones that've been linked to.
I will now do that:
Dear Readers, wherever you find yourselves in Alarm Clock Briatin (or elsewhere), please search for the term "Alarm Clock Britain" (with or without quotation marks with the search function which has recently been added here. If you are then offered a link to another blog, follow it! Follow it!

Liu Xiaobo

English translation follows the German text.

Der Massive Blog kann heute offiziell bestätigen, dass Liu Xiaobo, chinesischer Bürgerrechtler, den 2010 Nobelfriedenspreis gewonnen hat.
Letztes Jahr wurde Barack Obama mit dem Preis ausgezeichnet.
Keiner der beiden Kollegen, auch wenn sie viele gute Eigenschaften haben, hat je einen Friedensvertrag unterzeichnet. Man fragt sich, wofür gewinnt man den Preis? Offensichtlich nicht fürs Unterzeichnen von Friedensverträgen. Für etwas anderes, für eine andere Art von Frieden.
Was ist Frieden?
1: Frieden als Abwesenheit des Kriegs
Ein Krieg ist (im traditionellen Oppenheim'schen Sinne) ein Konflikt zwischen zwei oder mehr Staaten. Lui Xiaobo hat aber keinen Krieg zwischen China und irgendeinem anderen Staat verhindert. Er hat das auch gar nicht vor. Für diese Art von Frieden ist er also nicht ausgezeichnet worden.
2: Frieden als friedliches Aufeinanderzugehen
Wenn zwei Staaten oder Menschen friedlich aufeinanderzugehen, kommen sie sich näher. Wenn sie beschließen, nicht auf einander zu schießen und miteinander zu reden, wird das als Weg zum Frieden betrachtet. Obwohl es häufig nicht zum Frieden führt, sondern zur Einfrierung eines Konflikts, oder zum friedenähnlichen Zustand, mit dem aber keiner wirklich zufrieden ist. Frieden ohne Zufridenheit ist nicht so toll.
3: Frieden als beidseitige Zufriedenheit
Wenn beide Seiten eines Streits zufrieden sind, streiten sie sich nicht mehr miteinander. Ist das Frieden? Möglicherweise. Es kann aber sein, dass auch diese Zufriedenheit nicht sehr lang anhält. Und im Streit sind die beiden Parteien nicht immer gleichberechtigt. Nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg mussten sich alle mit dem Friedensvertrag von Versailles zufriedengeben, auch wenn manche Bedingungen da drin unfair waren und gutmöglich später zum Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkriegs beitrugen. Dieser Frieden ist also auch nicht unbedingt perfekt. Und Liu Xiaobo hat auch nicht diesen Frieden angestrebt. In seinem Kampf mit der chinesischen Macht ist weder er wirklich zufrieden (weil er das nicht erreicht hat, was er will, und weil er im Knast sitzt) noch ist die Regierung zufrieden, weil sie mit diesem Dissidenten zu tun hat, der es wagt, Friedesnobelpreise zu gewinnen. Frechheit.
4: Frieden als Demokratie
Tony Blair sagte einmal, als er Gast bei der Daily Show war, dass zwei demokratische Staaten nie Krieg gegeneinander geführt hätten. Er sehe den Schlüssel zum Frieden in der Demokratie. Etwas Ähnliches strebt Liu Xiaobo an - eine demokratischere Gesellschaft in China. Tony Blair hat (bisher) keinen Friedensnobelpreis gewonnen, aber seinem Lob der Demokratie würden wohl auch die Chefs bei Nobel GmbH (oder wer das ist, der den Preis verleiht) zustimmen. Aber ist Demokratie Frieden?
Demokratien sind durchaus in der Lage, Kriege gegen nicht-demokratische Länder zu führen. Und sie sind auch durchaus in der Lage, Länder zu Nicht-Demokratien zu erklären, wenn sie Kriege gegen diese führen möchten.
Demokratien sind dafür bekannt, dass das Volk die Macht hat. Sie sind aber auch dafür bekannt, dass Demonstrationen häufig stattfinden, dass Streit (unter dem Schein eines öffentlichen Diskurses) fester Bestandteil des Systems ist.
Sie sind auch dafür bekannt, dass viele sich zufrieden geben müssen, weil sie haben wählen dürfen, obwohl entweder ihre Partei verloren hat oder ihre Partei gewonnen hat, macht leider nichts, was deren Vorwahlversprechen entsprechen würde. Richtige Zufriedenheit herrscht also auch selten unter einer demokratischen Bevölkerung. Es darf auch nicht, weil eine Opposition ja auch unverzichtbar für eine effektive Demokratie ist. Das heißt: es muss in jeder Demokratie einen betrachtlichen Teil der Bevölkerung geben, der unzufrieden ist. Sonst ist es keine richtige Demokratie. Wie Russland.
Also schwierig, eine Definition von Frieden zu finden. Und unter Betrachtung dessen, haben die Preisverleiher mit Barack Obama und Liu Xiaobo zwei gar nicht so schlechte Kandidaten ausgesucht.
Ich füge hier den Eintrag aus dem Oxford English Dictionary (übersetzt) als Abschlusswort bei, auch wenn er eventuell den bisherigen Inhalt dieses Posts widerlegt (ich habe noch nicht geguckt, was da steht):
"Nomen 1: runde grüne Samen, die als Gemüse gegessen werden.
- Karibisch - jede Hülsenfrucht, inklusive Erbsen, Bohnen oder Linsen, die als Gemüse gegessen wird.
2 die winterfeste eurasische Kletterpflanze, die Hülsen von sich gibt, die Erbsen beinhalten.
- Pisum sativum, Familie Leguminosae (oder Fabaceae; die Erbsenfamilie). Die Mitglieder dieser Familie (Hülsenfrüchte genannt) sind manchmal in drei ähnliche Familien geteilt: Papilionaceae (Erbsen, Bohnen, Klee, Wicken, Ginster, Goldregen, usw.), Mimosaceae (Mimosen, Akazien), und Caesalpiniaceae (Kassia, Johannisbrotbaum und viele tropische Nutzholzbäume).
3 (mit Attribut) wird in den Namen ähnlicher oder verwandter Pflanzen oder Samen verwendet, z.B. Kichererbse, Wicke.
- PHRASEN wie Erbsen (oder zwei Erbsen) in einer Hülse so ähnlich, so dass voneinander nicht zu unterscheiden ist oder fast so.
- ABLEITUNGEN Erbsenmäßig Adjectiv.
- URSPRUNG Mitte 17. Jahrhundert.: zurückgeleitet von PEASE (als Mehrzahl interpretiert wordern).

Herzlichen Glückwunsch Liu Xiaobo und rocken Sie weiter!
Bis morgen.



The Massive Blog can today confirm that Liu Xiaobo, Chinese human rights activist, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
Last year, Barack Obama was awarded the prize.
Neither of these people, even if they have many other good points, has ever signed a peace treaty. One wonders, what do you win this prize for? Clearly not for signing peace treaties. For something else, for another kind of peace.
What is peace?
1: Peace as the absence of war
A war is (in the traditional Oppenheimian sense) a conflict between two or more states. Lui Xiaobo has not however prevented any war between China and some other state. He's not even planning on doing so. So he hasn't been awarded for this kind of peace.
2: Peace as approaching one another peacefully
When two states or people approach one another peacefully, they grow closer. When they decide not to shoot one another and to speak with one another, this is seen as the way towards peace. Although it often doesn't lead to peace, but to the freezing of a conflict, or to a peace-like situation, with which, however, no one is really satisfied. Peace without satisfaction isn't so great.
3: Peace as mutual satisfaction
When both sides of an argument are satisfied, they stop arguing with one another. Is that peace? Possibly. It is also possible though, that this kind of satisfaction doesn't hold up for very long. And in an argument both parties are often not afforded the same rights. After the First World War everyone had to put up with the Treaty of Versailles, even if some of its conditions were unfair and highly likely later helped towards the outbreak of the Second World War. So this peace isn't necessarily perfect either. And Liu Xiaobo hasn't been working towards this kind of peace either. In his struggle with the Chinese powers, neither he is really satisfied (because he's not achieved what he wants and because he's sitting in prison), neither is the government happy, because it's got to deal with this dissident who dares to go around winning Nobel Peace Prizes. The cheek.
4: Peace als democracy
Tony Blair once said, when he was a guest on the Daily Show, that two democratic states had never fought a war against one another. He sees the key to peace in democracy. Liu Xiaobo is after something similar - a more democratic society in China. Tony Blair has (so far) not won a Nobel Peace Prize, but the bosses down at Nobel Ltd (or whoever it is that gives out the prize) would surely agree with his appraisal of democracy. But is democracy peace?
Democracies are more than capable of waging wars against non-democratic countries. And they are also more than capable of declaring countries non-democratic, when they want to wage wars against them.
Democracies are known for the people having the power. They are, however, also well known for demonstrations taking place a lot, for argument (under the guise of public discourse) being an integral part of the system.
They are also well known for the fact that lots of people have to say that they're satisfied when they're not really, because they've been allowed to vote, although either their party has lost or their party has won, but unfortunately isn't doing what would correspond to their pre-election promises. Real satisfaction is therefore rarely to be found amongst a democratic population. In fact, it can't be found, because an opposition is, as we all know, absolutely necessary for an effective democracy. That means: there has to be, in every democracy, a great chunk of the population which isn't satisfied. Otherwise it's not a real democracy. Like Russia.
So it's difficult to find a definition of peace. And so when you think about it, the prize-givers could have done worse than Barack Obama and Liu Xiaobo.
As a closing word, I shall here insert the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary (in the German version up there it's a translation), even if it will possibly negate the content of this post up to this point (I've not yet looked what it says):
noun 1 spherical green seeds which are eaten as a vegetable.
- W. Indian - any legume, including peas, beans, or lentils, eaten as a vegetable.
2 the hardy Eurasian climbing plant which yields pods containing peas.
- Pisum sativum, family Leguminosae (or Fabaceae; the pea family). The members of this family (known as legumes) are sometimes divided among three smaller families: Papilionaceae (peas, beans, clovers, vetches, brooms, laburnums, etc.), Mimosaceae (mimosas, acacias), and Caesalpiniaceae (cassia, carob, and many tropical timber trees).
3 (with modifier) used in names of similar or related plants or seeds, e.g. chickpea, sweet pea.
- PHRASES like peas (or two peas) in a pod so similar as to be indistinguishable or nearly so.
- DERIVATIVES pea-like adjective.
- ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: back-formation from PEASE (interpreted as plural).
Congratulations to Liu Xiaobo and keep on rocking!
See you tomorrow.