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Allen Walker Read
Allen Walker Read (June 2, 1906 – October 16, 2002) was an American etymologist and lexicographer. Born in Minnesota, he spent much of his career as a professor at Columbia University in New York. Read's work ''Classic American Graffiti'' is well regarded in the study of latrinalia and obscenity. His etymological career included his discovery of the origin of the word " OK", a longtime puzzle, and his scholarly study of the history and use of the common English vulgarity "fuck." Early life and education Read was born in Winnebago, Minnesota to Orlan and Bessie Allen Reed on 2 June, 1906. He had one sibling, a sister, Mary Jo; she became a professor of geography at Eastern Illinois University. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa (called Iowa State Teachers College at the time) in 1925 and a master's degree from the University of Iowa in 1926. His thesis focused on Iowa place names. Read studied at St Edmund Hall, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1906 Births
Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, and establish a national assembly, the National Consultative Assembly, Majlis. * January 16–April 7 – The Algeciras Conference convenes, to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis between French Third Republic, France and German Empire, Germany. * January 22 – The strikes a reef off Vancouver Island, Canada, killing over 100 (officially 136) in the ensuing disaster. * January 31 – The 1906 Ecuador–Colombia earthquake, Ecuador–Colombia earthquake (8.8 on the Moment magnitude scale), and associated tsunami, cause at least 500 deaths. * February 7 – is launched, sparking a Anglo-German naval arms race, naval race between Britain and Germany. * February 11 ** Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical ''Vehementer Nos'', de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Institute Of General Semantics
The Institute of General Semantics (IGS) is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1938 by Alfred Korzybski, to support research and publication on the topic of general semantics. The Institute publishes Korzybski's writings, including the seminal text ''Science & Sanity'', and books by other authors who have studied or taught general semantics, such as Robert Pula, Irving J. Lee, Wendell Johnson, and Stuart Chase. Every year since 1952, it has sponsored the Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture, with presenters from a broad range of disciplines, from science to medicine to entertainment, including names like actor Steve Allen, psychologist Albert Ellis, scientist and visionary R. Buckminster Fuller, linguist Allen Walker Read, and philosopher F. S. C. Northrop. The Institute offers periodic seminars, workshops and conferences and is headquartered in New York City. See also * General Semantics General semantics is a school of thought that incorporates philosophy, philosop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Algeo
John Algeo (1930–2019) was an American academic, trained as a linguist, and the author of one of the standard American textbooks on the history of the English language. He was also a Theosophist and a Freemason. He was the Vice President of the Theosophical Society Adyar and, was a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Georgia. Biography Algeo was born in St Louis, Missouri. He joined the army and served in the Korean War and became a sergeant. He married Adele Silbereisen in 1958. He earned a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Miami in 1955, and Master of Arts (1957) and Doctor of Philosophy (1960) degrees from the University of Florida. He was an instructor at Florida State University from 1959 to 1961. He returned to the University of Florida in 1961 as an assistant professor of English, becoming an associate professor in 1966, assistant dean of the graduate school in 1969 and a full professor in 1970. Algeo moved to the University of Georgia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semiotic Society Of America
The Semiotic Society of America is the major and leading semiotics organization in North America, serving scholars from many disciplines with common interests in semiotics, the study of signs and sign systems. It was founded in 1975. Its official journal is '' The American Journal of Semiotics''. The Society also publishes the proceedings of its annual conferences. Memberships in the society and publication of the journal are managed by the Philosophy Documentation Center. As its symbol, the Society uses caduceus, the staff of a messenger bearing a message, as a sign of a sign. Publications of the Semiotic Society of America * '' The American Journal of Semiotics'', 1981–present * '' Semiotics: The Proceedings of the Semiotic Society of America'', 1980–present * ''Semiotic Scene: Bulletin of the Semiotic Society of America'', 1977-1981 * ''Bulletin of Literary Semiotics'', 1975-1977 Presidents According to the society's official website, the Presidents of the Society have incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Linguistic Association
The International Linguistic Association (ILA) was founded in 1943 as the Linguistic Circle of New York. Its founding members were academic linguists in the New York area, including many members of the École Libre des Hautes Études in exile. The model for the new organization was the Société de Linguistique de Paris. Early members included Roman Jakobson, Morris Swadesh, André Martinet, Henri F. Muller, Giuliano Bonfante, Robert Austerlitz, Robert Fowkes, Henry Lee Smith, Wolf Leslau, and Louis H. Gray. The Circle began publishing the journal WORD in 1945 under the editorship of Pauline Taylor. Both the Circle and the journal soon became known as one of the main sources of new ideas in American linguistics before the Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a . ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doublespeak
Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs and "servicing the target" for bombing), in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions of meaning. In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth. Doublespeak is most closely associated with political language used by large entities such as corporations and governments. Origins and concepts The term ''doublespeak'' derives from two concepts in George Orwell's novel, ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', "doublethink" and "Newspeak", despite the term itself not being used in the novel. Another version of the term, ''doubletalk'', also referring to intentionally ambiguous speech, did exist at the time Orwell wrote his book, but the usage of ''doublespeak'', as well as of "doubletalk", in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pig Latin
Pig Latin (''Igpay Atinlay'') is a language game, argot, or cant in which words in English are altered, usually by adding a fabricated suffix or by moving the onset or initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllable (usually -ay or /eɪ/) to create such a suffix. For example, "he does not know" would become ''"ehay oesday otnay ownay"''. The objective is often to conceal the words from others not familiar with the rules. The reference to Latin is a deliberate misnomer; Pig Latin is simply a form of argot or jargon unrelated to Latin, and the name is used for its English connotations as a strange and foreign-sounding language. It is most often used by young children as a fun way to confuse people unfamiliar with Pig Latin. Origins and history Early mentions of Pig Latin or Hog Latin describe what is known today as Dog Latin, a type of parody Latin. Examples of this predate even Shakespeare, whose 1598 play, ''Love's Lab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception, with no single technical usage in linguistics. Etymology of the word ''slang'' In its earliest attested use (1756), the word ''slang'' referred to the vocabulary of "low" or "disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to usages below the level of standard educated speech. In Scots dialect it meant "talk, chat, gossip", as used by Aberdeen poet William Scott in 1832: "The slang gaed on aboot their war'ly care." In northern English dialect it me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graffiti
Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire. Modern graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered vandalism. Modern graffiti began in the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s and later spread to the rest of the United States and throughout the world. Etymology "Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word ''graffiato'' ("scratched"). In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek —''gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
