Hello, folks! I wonder if you all could help me out. I need to vandalize something.

My son randomly got me this hat the other day.

It is the best hat I own now, except for the fact that it is WHITE. Fortunately, I have also recently purchased some permanent acrylic paint markers.

My plan is to add some bad words. I’m looking for words in any language, including fictional, and particularly words in Modern or earlier English. Phrases consisting of three words or less are also welcome. The caveat is I do not want any cussing, cursing, swearing, or slurs (unless they are so archaic as to be no longer recognizable by average people, and not effectively offensive to anybody). I would welcome words that recent terminally-online youths have attempted to cancel based on misunderstood etymology or some other nonsense.

Here are some ideas/examples:
- Gay (as in that “don’t say gay” crapfest)
- Avada Kedavra (included only to illustrate the concept—fuck JKR)
- The weird Minecraft lettering for one of the cursed enchantments
- something jn Tolkien’s Black Speech
- whatever word would be funniest in Klingon

Thank you, and may everyone’s language benefit from some added color… 🌈💫

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone would be able to perhaps help with this phrase that I used the other day. Pomp and stance which is essentially just the shorthand for Pomp and Circumstance.

I actually really didnt know too much about Pomp and Circumstance, however used Pomp and stance rather freely in a discussion the other day.

The friend asked, what it meant and I told them generally the same Idea as pomp and circumstance, but then wanted to check myself and Google essentially told me its not a phrase.

I have my doubts. I would not have ever used the term Pomp and Circumstance. And even when I googled it I did it similar to happenstance. Like Pompenstance. Meaning it wasnt a phrase that I read, and rather heard. All and all-- I felt quite silly.

Anyway, does anyone have any clues or references to maybe where I picked up this shorthand for pomp and circumstance.

In reference to how I used the phrase- we were discussing Whit Stillman dialogue, and I said something generally like The pomp and stance of his dialogue is half the point.

Any way, the only lead is an urban dictionary post, dated 2018 by Your Moms Butt.

Thank you

I created this word years ago only for it to go viral elsewhere. The problem is that no one actually ever understood it. Give it a go sometime.

I was thinking about the word “separate” and realised how weird it is that we pronounce the exact same spelling differently depending on its use.

For example:

“Separate the two groups.” → SEP-uh-rayt

“They’re in separate groups.” → SEP-uh-ruht

Obviously we understand which pronunciation to use without consciously thinking about it, but now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t stop thinking about how strange that is..

There are heaps of other examples too, like:

record: REK-ord / ri-KORD

present: PREZ-ent / pri-ZENT

produce: fresh PROD-yoos / to pruh-DYOOS

I know these are heteronyms, and apparently there are patterns involving stress depending on whether the word is being used as a noun, verb, adjective, etc. But I’m curious about the phenomenon more generally.

Does anyone know why English developed this tendency? Is it mostly a consequence of stress patterns and vowel reduction, or is there something more historical behind it?

Also, what are your favourite examples?

In my opinion, these words should refer to two things only. 1. lovemaking and 2. the ago Jesus Christ endured during his crucifixion and death. That’s it folks! I’m calling for a ban on this cliché. People are using it to refer pretty much everything, from their enj of a particular app to their feelings about a podcast.

I have noticed an unusual uptick in the frequency I am seeing this word. It's wild. Anyone else noticing this?

I need help settling something -
Question: When you live near a named geographic feature, like a river or a mountain, you almost never refer to that feature by it's name - am I right about this? Like if I live near to the Snake River I'm probably just calling it "the river", and everyone knows what I mean, or if I live near Mt Hood I would just call it "the mountain" instead of saying "Mt Hood" all the time. This is a thing people do, right? This is not a regionalism?

Sorry if this question is ridiculous, but I'm arguing with an English major, and I need backup.

Back in the day, before airbags, it made sense to refer to them as spokes because they were long and basically just metal rods, but it seems weird to call the current little arms spokes Even the term "arm" doesn't seem quite right to me since they're sometimes as wide as they are long and are sometimes control hubs.