TRAVALÍNGUA

Há quatro quadros três e três quadros quatro.

Sendo que quatro destes quadros são quadrados,

um dos quadros quatro e três dos quadros três.

Os três quadros que não são quadrados,

são dois dos quadros quatro e um dos quadros três.

20 most commonly misspelt words in English

Which words do you think are most commonly misspelt in English? Write down five words you expect to be on the list at the end of this post.

What makes some English words difficult to spell? One source of difficulty is inconsistent pronunciation; many sound out ‘definately’ when they mean definitely (2). And comparatively few outside the Royal Shakespeare Company clearly enunciateseparate (1) – more typically the ‘A’ becomes an ‘E’. This problem is most glaring when (many) young people transcribe ‘could have’ as ‘could of’ or a lot (14) as ‘alot’.

In some cases it is an unexpected combination of letters containing few phonetic clues – bureaucracy (11) and manoeuvre (3) are examples here. In both these cases the spelling pattern is literally foreign; French, to be precise. Until comparatively recently a basic knowledge of French was assumed of every ‘educated’ English reader but most now would recognise the word entrepreneur (16) from business rather than the language from which it originates. The same applies to those other providers of hidden spelling rules: Latin and Greek.

An understandable uncertainty as to when ‘C’ rather than ‘S’ applies lies behind consensus (6) supersede (12) conscience (19) and unnecessary (7). There’s a similar confusion over what creates the ‘CK’ sound in liquefy (18), added to the confusion of an ‘E’ in place of the usual ‘I’.

By far the most difficult hurdle for any speller, however, is the dreaded ‘double letter’ dilemma. Two ‘N’s or one? Does two ‘C’s look right? Unnecessary causes double-trouble here to add to its ‘C’ or ‘S’ issues.

Spell-check/Spellcheck (?) will help, of course, which is why many young people delegate the job entirely to that marvellous (two ‘L’s in British English) programme (one ‘M’ and drop the ‘E’ in the US or amongst techies).

Sadly, technology has not yet produced a spell-checking pen for that handwritten application form.

1. Separate 

2. Definitely 

3. Manoeuvre 

4. Embarrass 

5. Occurrence 

6. Consensus 

7. Unnecessary 

8. Acceptable 

9. Broccoli

10. Referred 

11. Bureaucracy 

12. Supersede 

13. Questionnaire 

14. Connoisseur 

15. A lot 

16. Entrepreneur 

17. Particularly 

18.Liquefy 

19. Conscience 

20. Parallel

Source: poll from OnePoll quoted in Daily Telegraph 06 August 2010

TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING SERVICES

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Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

PORTUGUÊS: sem pé nem cabeça
ENGLISH: flimflam
SPANISH: chorrada

Teste seu nível de Espanhol | Test your Spanish

The power of Punctuation

An English teacher asked his students to punctuate the following sentence:

A WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING

All the males in the class wrote:

A WOMAN, WITHOUT HER MAN, IS NOTHING.

All the femails in the class wrote:

A WOMAN: WITHOUT HER, MAN IS NOTHING.

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

PORTUGUÊS: pé frio
ENGLISH: jinx
ESPAÑOL: mala pata

El chiste de la semana

Metonymy: when a trademark becomes a noun

A generic trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become a synonymous of a general class of product or service. Brand names become generic when they are so commonly used that people associate them with every product of that kind regardless of who manufactures it or who trademarked the name. In general, people take a top-of-mind brand and use it to refer to all similar products in the category as it's part of human nature to make things simple. Using a generic trademark to refer to the general form of what that trademark represents a form of metonymy.

Metonymies are frequently used in literature and in everyday speech. By definition , Metonymy entails using the name of one particular thing being replaced by the name of something that is closely associated with it. Metonymy, in Greek, literally means 'a change of name'. Thus, it actually stands for a transmutation or a misnomer. This figure of speech helps to indirectly refer to something. Sometimes a metonymy is chosen because it is a well-known characteristic of the word.

Many of the items we use every day, like zippers (originally a trademark of B.F. Goodrich) and escalators (originally a trademark of Otis Elevator Company), were once brand names. "Laundromat", for example, was a trademarked name created by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in the 1930s. Even heroin was a brand name (originally a trademark of Bayer AG).

Here are some trademarked names that are often used as generic terms today:

You might think you’re riding around on a Jet Ski, but if it’s not made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, it’s just a personal watercraft.

Bubble Wrap is probably the greatest contribution made to our society by Sealed Air Corporation, which they rightly trademarked.

The term Onesies, referring to infant bodysuits, is owned by Gerber Childrenswear. According to their website, the trademark is aggressively enforced. (Twosies and Funzies also belong to Gerber.)

Jacuzzi is not only brand of hot tubs and bathtubs; they also make mattresses and toilets.

The Crockpot, a brand name for the slow cooker, was originally developed as a beanery appliance.

Fluffernutter is a registered trademark of the makers of Marshmallow Fluff, Durkee-Mower, Inc.

Frisbee is currently owned by WHAM-O, but a legal battle to make this word and several others generic is underway. In 2010, Manley Toys Ltd. challenged WHAM-O, arguing that the terms Frisbee, Hula Hoop and Slip’n Slide have already become generic in the public lexicon. Personally, I think Ultimate Flying Disc sounds cooler than Ultimate Frisbee anyway.

Chapstick is a brand name of lip balm produced by Pfizer. In the event that you find yourself enjoying this product too much, websites dedicated to helping Chapstick addicts are available.

The perfect time to remind a friend or family member that Kleenex is a brand name for a tissue is right when they are desperately begging you to hand them one.

Ping-Pong was trademarked in 1901 as a brand of table tennis products named for the sound the ball makes when it hits the table.

On their website, Microsoft suggests that unless you are using their software, your PowerPoint is a “presentation graphics program.”

When Q-tips were originally released, they were called Baby Gays. The name was changed to Q-tips—the “Q” standing for quality—in 1926. Although they have changed hands several times since then, Unilever owns the brand today.

Two hockey-player brothers designed Rollerblade inline skates from a pair of old roller skates in 1979. They were the only brand of inline skates until the mid-eighties, when several other companies emerged.

According to legend, Scotch tape earned its name when a frustrated customer told a 3M scientist to “take it back to your Scotch bosses and tell them to put more adhesive on it.” Today, Scotch “Magic Tape” is only manufactured in one place in the world: Hutchinson, Minn.

The permanent marker was invented in 1956, but the Sharpie wasn’t introduced until 1964. Today, the products are almost synonymous with one another.

In 1899, Pearle Wait sold his recipe for Jell-O to Orator Woodward for $450. In 1902, sales for the product were around $250,000. Today, the gelatin dessert is owned by Kraft.

Tupperware is a brand that got its name from its creator, Earle Silas Tupper.

George de Mastreal invented Velcro when he discovered that burrs stuck to matted dog fur. Today, it is the world’s most prominent brand of hook and loop fasteners.

Weed Eater is owned by Husqvarna Outdoor Products.

Don’t ask BIC what’s in their line of correction fluid. The exact ingredients of Wite-out are confidential.

Johnson & Johnson manufactured gauze and adhesive tape separately until Earle Dickinson had the idea to combine them to create Band-Aids for his accident-prone wife.

The Zamboni is an ice resurfacer named after its inventor, Frank Zamboni.

TASER is a trademark of TASER International, and shouldn’t technically be used as a verb. To be fair, “Don’t hit me with that electroshock weapon, bro!” is probably hard to shout under duress. Bonus fact: TASER is an acronym. It stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle.”

Strategic marketing efforts thrust the Rollerblade brandname high into public awareness Skating enthusiasts began using Rollerblade as a generic term for all in-line skates, putting the trademark in jeopardy.

Dry Ice was trademarked by the first company to sell dry ice.

The British use the word Hoover to mean any vacuum cleaner.

Aspirin, originally a trademark of Bayer AG.

Kerosene, originally a trademark of Abraham Gesner.

Phillips-head screw, named after Henry F. Phillips.

Pogo for the toy Pogo stick.

Thermos, originally a trademark of Thermos GmbH.

Yo-yo, originally a trademark of Duncan Yo-Yo Company.

However, Linoleum, coined by its inventor and patent holder Frederick Walton, is the first product term ruled by a court as generic, it was never used as a trademark.

Tongue Twister

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

If you want a decent return on your investment the best language to learn is Brazilian Portuguese...

Some lunatics learn languages for fun. The rest of us are looking for a decent return on our investment. That means choosing a language with plenty of native speakers. One spoken by people worth talking to, in a place worth visiting. One with close relatives, so you have a head start with your third language. One not so distant from English that you give up.

There really is only one rational choice: Brazilian Portuguese. Brazil is big (190m residents; half a continent). Its economic prospects are bright. São Paulo is Latin America’s business capital. No other country has flora and fauna more varied and beautiful. It is home to the world’s largest standing forest, the Amazon. The weather is great and so are the beaches. The people are friendly, and shameless white liars. You’ll be told “Your Portuguese is wonderful!” many times before it is true.

You won’t need a new alphabet or much new grammar, though you may find the language addicted to declensions and unduly fond of the subjunctive. You’ll learn hundreds of words without effort (azul means blue, verde means green) and be able to guess entire sentences (O sistema bancário é muito forte: the banking system is very strong). With new pronunciation and a few new words you’ll get around in Portugal and parts of Africa. If you speak Spanish, French or Italian, you’ll find half the work is already done — and if not, why not try? With Portuguese under your belt you’ll fly along.

Best of all, you’ll stand out. Only about 10m Brazilians have reasonable English, and far more Anglophones speak French or Spanish than Portuguese, of any flavour. I did not choose this language; it was thrust on me by the offer of a job in São Paulo. But when I think of my sons, now ten and five, one day being able to write “fluent Brazilian Portuguese” on their CVs, I feel a little smug.

Helen Joyce is The Economist's São Paulo correspondent

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

Português: ESTRAGA-PRAZERES

English: WET BLANKET 

Español: AGUAFIESTAS.