Uri
@udzu.bsky.social
interested in linguistics, lists | ✊🏿 🏳️⚧️ 🇵🇸 🏳️🌈 | he/they
dataviz: https://flickr.com/photos/zarfo/albums
dataviz: https://flickr.com/photos/zarfo/albums
For anyone who’s curious, this is what Paul Tanner actually looked like.
October 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
For anyone who’s curious, this is what Paul Tanner actually looked like.
The origin of various band names. Not all of these have been covered by @andrewhickey.bsky.social's 500 Songs podcast yet, so apologies for any mistakes!
September 20, 2023 at 10:50 AM
The origin of various band names. Not all of these have been covered by @andrewhickey.bsky.social's 500 Songs podcast yet, so apologies for any mistakes!
Do you think this one works without recognising the clip-art?
August 10, 2023 at 9:38 AM
Do you think this one works without recognising the clip-art?
(Also Henry Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, a 19th century British politician, had 8 in his triple-barrelled surname. And the sesquipedalian Welsh village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch has 11.)
August 7, 2023 at 7:12 AM
(Also Henry Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell, a 19th century British politician, had 8 in his triple-barrelled surname. And the sesquipedalian Welsh village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch has 11.)
Themself for generic individual antecedents is attested since at least the 15th century. The first OED citation with a named they/them is from 2011, but I expect that usage is a fair bit older too.
August 6, 2023 at 5:20 PM
Themself for generic individual antecedents is attested since at least the 15th century. The first OED citation with a named they/them is from 2011, but I expect that usage is a fair bit older too.
Due to a combination of historic dye availability and imitation, disproportionately many entities (including 29 countries) have flags that are red, white and blue
August 4, 2023 at 7:52 AM
Due to a combination of historic dye availability and imitation, disproportionately many entities (including 29 countries) have flags that are red, white and blue
(not to be confused with Monsieur Alfonse, the half-Belgian undertaker from 'Allo 'Allo!)
July 29, 2023 at 7:18 PM
(not to be confused with Monsieur Alfonse, the half-Belgian undertaker from 'Allo 'Allo!)
The etymologies of various computer language names. 🐦🐦
July 20, 2023 at 10:53 AM
The etymologies of various computer language names. 🐦🐦
The word for tea in nearly every spoken language is a variation of either "tea" or "cha". Both come from Chinese (via different varieties) with tea mostly spreading by sea and cha by land along the Silk Road. There are however a few languages with unrelated terms. Does anyone know of any others? 🐦🐦
July 19, 2023 at 12:53 PM
The word for tea in nearly every spoken language is a variation of either "tea" or "cha". Both come from Chinese (via different varieties) with tea mostly spreading by sea and cha by land along the Silk Road. There are however a few languages with unrelated terms. Does anyone know of any others? 🐦🐦
The most distinctive glyphs, glyph pairs and glyph triplets in different European languages, based on comparing each language's Wikipedia to others that use the same script
July 18, 2023 at 8:31 AM
The most distinctive glyphs, glyph pairs and glyph triplets in different European languages, based on comparing each language's Wikipedia to others that use the same script
Or cheetah vs gepard. Can anyone here think of any others? 5/5
July 17, 2023 at 8:58 AM
Or cheetah vs gepard. Can anyone here think of any others? 5/5
Or bassoon (NSFW WARNING: the most common European word here strongly resembles an offensive English slur) 4/5
July 17, 2023 at 8:57 AM
Or bassoon (NSFW WARNING: the most common European word here strongly resembles an offensive English slur) 4/5
There are also some other, less cited words that display this "weird English" stereotype, especially when restricted to Europe, though even then it's never "just English" as far as I can find. Eg petrol/gasoline vs benzin 2/5
July 17, 2023 at 8:55 AM
There are also some other, less cited words that display this "weird English" stereotype, especially when restricted to Europe, though even then it's never "just English" as far as I can find. Eg petrol/gasoline vs benzin 2/5
Apart from pineapple/ananas, the other word where English is often considered a weird outlier is Easter, for which many European countries use a word derived from the Greek and Aramaic Pascha. In fact this too is very far from universal, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. 1/5
July 17, 2023 at 8:53 AM
Apart from pineapple/ananas, the other word where English is often considered a weird outlier is Easter, for which many European countries use a word derived from the Greek and Aramaic Pascha. In fact this too is very far from universal, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. 1/5
Countries that turkey (the bird) is named after in different languages.
July 16, 2023 at 12:26 PM
Countries that turkey (the bird) is named after in different languages.
Logographic scripts make up the vast majority of characters encoded in Unicode, with Chinese characters alone making up two thirds.
July 15, 2023 at 1:06 PM
Logographic scripts make up the vast majority of characters encoded in Unicode, with Chinese characters alone making up two thirds.
A selection of English false cognates: words that look like they're related but aren't. Or at least not related etymologically, as their modern similarity is often the result of folk etymology bringing them closer together than they started out.
July 14, 2023 at 9:30 AM
A selection of English false cognates: words that look like they're related but aren't. Or at least not related etymologically, as their modern similarity is often the result of folk etymology bringing them closer together than they started out.
A categorisation of two-letter English words. The high ratio of "function words" versus "content words" is due to the so-called three letter rule, where content words were historically augmented with phonetically redundant letters, leading to homophones such as in/inn, be/bee, etc.
July 13, 2023 at 8:19 AM
A categorisation of two-letter English words. The high ratio of "function words" versus "content words" is due to the so-called three letter rule, where content words were historically augmented with phonetically redundant letters, leading to homophones such as in/inn, be/bee, etc.
The word for pineapple is 'ananas' is most European languages. However, this isn't as universal as is sometimes suggested: at least a third of the world's population (and 5 of the 10 most spoken languages) call it something else.
July 12, 2023 at 3:12 PM
The word for pineapple is 'ananas' is most European languages. However, this isn't as universal as is sometimes suggested: at least a third of the world's population (and 5 of the 10 most spoken languages) call it something else.
The etymologies of common computer terms
July 11, 2023 at 5:54 AM
The etymologies of common computer terms
Another etymology image. Any omissions?
July 9, 2023 at 1:06 PM
Another etymology image. Any omissions?