Category: Language

Language is based in threes. Sender, message, receiver. Subject verb object. A language involves a semantic system, a phonological system, and a syntactic system. Phonetics study the sounds of languages from three basic points of view.

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3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths – and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor

plimpton 322 tablet
plimpton 322 tablet

3,700-year-old clay tablet has proven that the Babylonians developed trigonometry 1,500 years before the Greeks and were using a sophisticated method of mathematics which could change how we calculate today.

The tablet, known as Plimpton 332, was discovered in the early 1900s in Southern Iraq by the American archaeologist and diplomat Edgar Banks, who was the inspiration for Indiana Jones.

The true meaning of the tablet has eluded experts until now but new research by the University of New South Wales, Australia, has shown it is the world’s oldest and most accurate trigonometric table, which was probably used by ancient architects to construct temples, palaces and canals. Continue reading 3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths – and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry

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Why Do We Have Middle Names?

BY THE MAG ,BY SEAN HUTCHINSON

AUGUST 26, 2014

Forename, middle name, surname. 

Middle names
Middle names

The phrase “middle name” first appeared in an 1835 Harvard University periodical called Harvardiana, but the practice dates back much further.

In ancient Rome, having multiple names was an honor usually bestowed upon the most important people—like Gaius Julius Caesar. The fad died out only to pick back up again in Western cultures in the 1700s, when aristocrats started giving their children lavishly long names to indicate their place in society. Similarly, lengthy Spanish and Arabic names adopt paternal or maternal names from previous generations to trace the individual’s family tree. (In other cultures, like Chinese, there are traditionally no middle names.)
Continue reading Why Do We Have Middle Names?

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Trader Joe’s – three bells

Trader Joe's There’s a reason they ring the bell.

You may hear two rings, three rings, another two rings, and then just one.

One ring opens up another register, two means there’s a question at checkout, and three rings requests a manger.
Continue reading Trader Joe’s – three bells