Thatgeek – Previously Sonicpling

Being from Texas, I can sympathize with these poor folks being made to sound stupid by the spelling in this article.

I think most people don’t have any problem with accents, and actually enjoy hearing accents that are foreign to them. It’s almost like learning a new, yet simple, language. But I just can’t stand to see someone trying to spell these pronunciation idiosyncrasies out. It just looks misspelled, not to mention “stoopid”.

That said, I did enjoy the article, I just wish that they knew how to spell properly.
If you think “gone with the wind” while you read it and ignore the spelling, I think you’re gonna’ do just fine. (Sorry, couldn’t help myself.)

By the way, me own dear sweet mother catches a lot of flack for her pronunciation of “warsh”, but I don’t think that she believes Austin to be the capital of the US.

Other idiosyncrasies have all but vanished over time. Texans for the most part no longer pray to the “Lard,” replacing the “o” with an “a,” or “warsh” their clothes. How the interloping “r” crept in remains an especially intriguing question, Dr. Bailey said. Trying to trace the peculiarity, he asked Texans to name the capital of the United States, often drawing the unhelpful answer “Austin.”

Is it just me, or does it bother you when someone tries to spell out your accent?

(via linkfilter)

Found this very interesting interview with Irene Pepperberg, in which she discusses her research into the cognitive abilities of gray parrots.

So we put a number of differently colored letters on the tray that we use, put the tray in front of Alex, and asked, ”Alex, what sound is blue?” He answers, ”Ssss.” It was an ‘’s”, so we say ”Good birdie” and he replies, ”Want a nut.” Well, I don’t want him sitting there using our limited amount of time to eat a nut, so I tell him to wait, and I ask, ”What sound is green?” Alex answers, ”Ssshh.” He’s right, it’s ‘’sh,” and we go through the routine again: ”Good parrot.” ”Want a nut.” ”Alex, wait. What sound is orange?” ”ch.” ”Good bird!” ”Want a nut.” We’re going on and on and Alex is clearly getting more and more frustrated. He finally gets very slitty-eyed and he looks at me and states, ”Want a nut. Nnn, uh, tuh.”

via metafilter

Boynton Has some really nifty links today:

Tin Pan Alley (POPULAR SONGS FROM THE TIN PAN ALLEY ERA)
Melody Lane (Early Gramophone Recordings In MP3)

These, in addition to the Dovesong site that I’ve mentioned before, proved a satisfying diversion.

Here’s a pretty nifty Color scheme selector.

Via Cogworks.

I’m not Russian, but here’s my self portrait.

Via boing-boing