Thursday, January 9, 2014

Thursday Poll

The English language is fascinating to me.  Mostly because it uses words from Latin and German and french and a host of other languages. It's a hodgepodge, but then it is also unique in and of itself. The grammar is difficult and does not follow any rhyme or reason like the romance languages do (Spanish, French, Italian, etc.) and there are many words that sound the same and mean completely different things There, Their and They're, for example.  I saw a funny meme the other day and it got me thinking about the words used to describe groups of animals.

See if you weren't a word geek like me you wouldn't get the joke (or if English is not your primary language.) A group of crows is called a "Murder". It's not a "Flock" like many groups of birds are called (e.g. Flock of Seagulls.)  A MURDER of crows! It sounds so ominous and spooky.  Another spooky black bird called a Raven has a special name to describe a's An UNKINDNESS of Ravens.  How awesome is that?  OK. Maybe I'm getting too excited over this subject, but lemme give you a few more neat and unusual examples.

In the "really cool" category of groups we have:
A Congress of Baboons - If you have seen the US Congress lately, this is an apt name.
An Exaltation of Larks
A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
A Parliament of Owls

In the "Most Descriptive" category we have: 
A Bloat of Hippopotamus (Hippopotamuses? Hippopotami?)
A Cackle of Hyenas
A Crash of Rhinoceros (Rhinocerouses? Rhinoceri?)
A Prickle of Porcupines
A Shiver of Sharks

And in the "WTF?" category we have:
A Warren of Rabbits
A Quiver of Cobras
A Rookery of Penguins
A Troubling of Goldfish
A Zeal of Zebras
A Smack of Jellyfish
A Shrewdness of Apes

I'm not even going to go into how plurals of words make no sense in the English language..OK. Just a few examples. The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. The plural of moose is ...moose. Why is goose = geese but moose ≠ meese?  Well that's for another day...
On To The Poll!

1. Lip Of The Day? - Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait De Gloss in Troublant. A plummy brown/mauve lip color that is my holy grail (after red lipstick) of lip colors.

2. What book are you reading right now, or the last book you read? - I'm sad to say I'm not reading anything right now and the last book I read was the latest trade of The Walking Dead comic book series, but the last REAL book I read was World War Z.

3.  Any beauty purchases lately? If so, what did you get? - I picked up a few nail polishes from butter London, Illamasqua and Formula X for Sephora.  Sadly my camera and lighting system for pics are both on the fritz so pictures are not forthcoming.

4.  How many languages can you speak? - I speak English, fairly well, I understand a little Italian and I can sing the theme son to The Flintstones in German. I really want to learn Spanish.

5.  Any beauty products you used in 2013 that you really loved? - I really loved the Urban Decay Revolution Lipsticks I purchased (which I still need to review!) and Sephora Collection Outrageous Prisma Chrome Metallic Eyeshadow in Taupe #6, Kiehl's Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Cream SPF 30, Edward Bess Platinum Concealer, Ben Nye Final Seal Matte Sealer, Chanel Gri-Gri Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow, and so many more!


  1. 1. Bare face for me this morning, just some Chapstick.
    2. Third trade in the current Wonder Woman run
    3. I did end up buying a new nail polish yesterday. Went to Rite Aid and ended up getting NYC Nolita's Lavendar, which is lovely. I also bought some new sensitive skin moisturizer from a friend who sells Avon, it's really nice so far. I have combination skin, oily forehead and dry nose and cheeks, and it performs well on both.
    4. English is my native language, but I speak conversational Spanish and Japanese.
    5. I really really loved Milani's Ultrafine Liquid Liners. I also got my first NARS nail polishes and they were both wonderful, if a bit tamer than my usual polish choices.

  2. I'm actually wearing lipstick today so I want to comment, yay!
    1)Too Faced La Creme Color Drenched Lip Cream in Lollipop. Woohoo, Color of 2014 Radiant Orchid bold lips!
    2)I also haven't read in ages :( My toddler won't let me, basically. Last book I read was The Killzone, a prequel to the Maze Runner series. Guess it wasn't really pulling me in because I was only a few chapters in before I put it down for months...
    3)Not really, I'm being SO GOOD and allowing a $100 Sephora gift card to burn a hole in my wallet. But I think about it every day so...
    4)English natively, Japanese near-fluently (but I'm too darn shy), a wee bit o' French and Chinese.
    5)I really loved Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara, Too Faced Exotic Intense Eyeshadow in Enchanted Garden in my brows, a bunch of ELF stuff (don't know why people are snobs about ELF), Too Faced La Creme Lipsticks are my favorite!

  3. Haha, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this :-) I love the alliterations!

    1. Lip Of The Day? - Burt's Bees Lip Shine in Flutter

    2. What book are you reading right now, or the last book you read? - I'm 'reading' the World Of Warcraft Ultimate Visual Guide. Yes, feel free to laugh, I R immune to your mockery!

    3. Any beauty purchases lately? If so, what did you get? - I got two new OPI polishes today, some L'Occitane products yesterday, and a couple things from the new MAC collections on Monday. So it's safe to say I've had a good week, lol.

    4. How many languages can you speak? - Dutch is my mother tongue, and I also speak English, French and German.

    5. Any beauty products you used in 2013 that you really loved? - I started using Estee Lauders' new ANR serum and I absolutely adored and still adore it.

  4. Plurals in English make total sense...if you remember that the the language is over 1000 years old and still has vocab hanging around from those Anglo-Saxon days. "Goose" is an Old English word from back when there were weak and strong nouns (and verbs, but that's a different discussion) that would be pluralized by changing the interior vowel from a oo to ee. So goose becomes geese and foot becomes feet. "Moose" isn't English at all; it's a borrowed Algonquin word for what the rest of the English-speaking world calls an elk. (An elk in American English is a whole other unrelated animal; go figure.) So it doesn't change vowel sounds, but uses the "this word is foreign, we're not sure how to pluralize it and just adding an S sounds weird so wtf, just keep it the same"; you could do "mooses" if you wanted. "Mouse" has a similar history as "goose" -- older word, using an older plural system. The singular of "lice" is "louse" so there's another. I forgot why "house" became "houses"; maybe a different noun category or somewhere in the 1000 years, it became "fukkit, let's standardize it".

  5. 1. Lip Of The Day? Revlon Rum Raisin--great nude-y pink on me.

    2. What book are you reading right now, or the last book you read? Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. And I'm loving it!

    3. Any beauty purchases lately? If so, what did you get? Bobbi Brown's Color Corrector and a Josie Maran gift set.

    4. How many languages can you speak? - I speak English fluently, some Spanish, a smidge of Amharic, and I'm thinking about learning Arabic or Chinese next.

    5. Any beauty products you used in 2013 that you really loved? Lots! But I've really fallen for Lush's skin care. I feel like I'm treating my skin every time I use Full of Grace.

  6. fascinating! although i am a fluent english speaker, i do not know half of these!
    and if there were more than one of you? A Hoot of Elviras!

  7. I'm a total word geek and did not know most of these. A kaleidoscope of butterflies- perfect!!



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