Today, we're going to get WEIRD.
May 2, 2016 11:59 AM   Subscribe

 
I very much appreciate this literal "Keep Mefi Weird" post.
posted by frecklefaerie at 12:42 PM on May 2, 2016 [4 favorites]


So, language weirds?
posted by D.C. at 12:50 PM on May 2, 2016


I had just finished the video, came to the blue to post it, and then saw the post about Professor Elemental's song, which is mentioned in this video. I love this place.
posted by numaner at 1:21 PM on May 2, 2016


Cool post! I love etymology and this guy does a great job tying a bunch of different concepts together. My girlfriend uses the word "weird" incorrectly all the time, so now I can show her not only what it really means, but where it came from.
posted by Fister Roboto at 1:35 PM on May 2, 2016


High marks for accurate presentation of Indo-European etymological relationships, though with a few points deducted for mispronunciation of Old Norse and misrepresentation of the Macbeth situation. (He talks as if Shakespeare wrote "weird" but the dumb compositors misprinted it, whereas there was no fixed spelling in those days; the New Oxford Shakespeare edition I recently finished copyediting uses Compositor A's "wayard," which gives the essential two-syllable pronunciation.) Nice post!
posted by languagehat at 1:50 PM on May 2, 2016 [5 favorites]


Wow, that wore me out in about 30 seconds. Then I went all "forest moon of Endor" on it.
posted by Windopaene at 2:04 PM on May 2, 2016


I was also wondering if his pronunciation on a lot of those old words are correct, but upon further careful listening, I realized he has a pretty heavy Minnesotan/Canadian accent, so that could be affecting it.
posted by numaner at 3:41 PM on May 2, 2016


#keepweirdmeta
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:55 PM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


My girlfriend uses the word "weird" incorrectly all the time, so now I can show her not only what it really means, but where it came from.

I'm going to make a weird prediction and say that's probably not going to work out so well for you.
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 4:49 PM on May 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


Indeed, the Weirding Way is the way of the future!
posted by mubba at 7:11 PM on May 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm like 3 minutes in, and there still hasn't been any Muppet dragons or stupid office poster jokes. How far do I need to fast forward till it gets better?
posted by pwnguin at 10:48 PM on May 2, 2016


Indeed, the Weirding Way is the way of the future!

Is it, though? "What's happened to weird?"

Apart from which: the verbing (Calvin docet) leads to further facets of the word: to weird out, global weirding, or even to transitively weird something (rendered as "to manufacture moments of revelatory, unpleasant intimacy" with something) - pretty interesting word, turns out.
posted by progosk at 4:20 AM on May 4, 2016


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