#language

You could duct tape my mouth shut, and I'd still talk too much. I talk with my hands, so you have to listen hard to hear me. You'll hear my flattering words when you see me clap. Hello and goodbye are the same word, in the language of the hand. When I talk with my hands, I might be agreeable and say "Ok." Or I might be calling you an asshole. But let's face it, I am agreeable, and you are an asshole. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#goodbye #hello #language #funny

What the semicolon's anxious supporters fret about is the tendency of contemporary writers to use a dash instead of a semicolon and thus precipitate the end of the world. Are they being alarmist? ↗

— Lynne Truss

#english-language #grammar #humor #lynne-truss #punctuation

I know your head aches. I know you're tired. I know your nerves are as raw as meat in a butcher's window. But think what you're trying to accomplish - just think what you're dealing with. The majesty and grandeur of the English language; it's the greatest possession we have. The noblest thoughts that ever flowed through the hearts of men are contained in its extraordinary, imaginative and musical mixtures of sounds. And that's what you've set yourself out to conquer, Eliza. And conquer it you will. ↗

— George Bernard Shaw

#language #imagination

But the male lexicographers had somehow neglected to coin a word for the dislike of men. They were almost entirely men themselves, she thought, and had been unable to imagine a market for such a word. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#sexism #imagination

Hebrew word for "charity" tzedakah, simply means "justice" and as this suggests, for Jews, giving to the poor is no optional extra but an essential part of living a just life. ↗

— Peter Singer

#hebrew #justice #language #poor #life

Curiously enough, it seems to be only in describing a mode of language which does not mean what it says that one can actually say what one means. ↗

— Paul de Man

#curiously #describing #does #enough #language

I chose a pseudonym, Chris Marker, pronounceable in most languages, because I was very intent on traveling. ↗

— Chris Marker

#chose #chris #i #intent #languages

But those two plays left me on fresh terms with language. I didn't always have to speak in my own voice. ↗

— James Merrill

#fresh #i #language #left #me

If you're going to learn a new language, you can't try to be perfect. You'll stop yourself from talking. You just have to let go. ↗

— Yao Ming

#going #just #language #learn #let go

Basketball, in America, is like a culture. It is like a foreigner learning a new language. It is difficult to learn foreign languages and it will also be difficult for me to learn the culture for basketball here. ↗

— Yao Ming

#america #basketball #culture #difficult #foreign