The last word of your mother tongue you have learnt ?

[Dormouse559]

This expression is a form of gender violence and it is NOT okay.

Won't disagree with you there. I should point out I don't know the register of the phrase or anything about its connotations. The two times I've heard it, it was used by an upper-class, middle-aged/older white man. The broadcasts in question were "Sherlock" and "King Charles III", both set roughly in the present day.

[IpseDixit]

riffa - violence, abuse of power

di riffa e di raffa - at any cost

Not sure if it's cognate with "riffraff".

[vijayjohn]

Some sources seem to suggest that they are cognate, although Wiktionary claims that a Germanic origin is unlikely for riffa and seems to support an onomatopoeic origin for that word instead. Apparently, raffa comes from arraffare, which is a loanword from a Lombard cognate of the "raff" in riffraff.

[Car]

[flag=]en[/flag] be mother - pour tea for others

I'd heard this before in "Sherlock", but at the time I assumed it was specific to the Holmes brothers.

I couldn't make sense of that in "Sherlock", so thanks for pointing that out. I made the same assumption.

[linguoboy]

[flag=]en[/flag] rôche moutonnée a type of rounded hillock found in glaciated terrain
[flag=]en-us[/flag] gore triangular piece of land where roads meet
[flag=]en[/flag][flag=]en-AU[/flag] anticlockwise counterclockwise

[Dormouse559]

[flag=]en[/flag] hummock - small hill, hillock; ridge of ice in an ice field

[linguoboy]

[flag=]en[/flag] hummock - small hill, hillock; ridge of ice in an ice field

In South Florida, the unrelated word [flag=]en-US[/flag] hammock is used for limestone plateaus raised a few inches above the surrounding wetlands that support dense growths of tropical hardwoods.

[dEhiN]

[flag=]en[/flag] hummock - small hill, hillock; ridge of ice in an ice field

In South Florida, the unrelated word [flag=]en-US[/flag] hammock is used for limestone plateaus raised a few inches above the surrounding wetlands that support dense growths of tropical hardwoods.

Do they also use hammock for the netted bed that hangs between two trees?

[vijayjohn]

[flag=]en[/flag] hummock - small hill, hillock; ridge of ice in an ice field

In South Florida, the unrelated word [flag=]en-US[/flag] hammock is used for limestone plateaus raised a few inches above the surrounding wetlands that support dense growths of tropical hardwoods.

Do they also use hammock for the netted bed that hangs between two trees?

Surely. The Golden Girls live in South Florida.

[OldBoring]

[flag=]it[/flag] too many these days
[flag=]zh[/flag] forgot

[mōdgethanc]

plankter the singular of plankton

Ugh, I can't believe I learned a word about ecology. I feel dirty now.

[Aurinĭa]

What's wrong with ecology?

[dEhiN]

plankter the singular of plankton

I'm used to using plankton like a mass noun. So I would say a single plankton as well as many plankton.

Edit: Do you guys consider a heritage language to be the same as mother tongue? I recently started taking Tamil lessons, and so am learning quite a few Tamil words. I'm not sure if those would qualify for this thread.

[vijayjohn]

plankter the singular of plankton

I'm used to using plankton like a mass noun. So I would say a single plankton as well as many plankton.

That's not a mass noun; that's just a case where the plural and singular happen to be identical. A mass noun would be something like "water" and "milk" where the word refers to a mass, not something that can be counted (cf. a drop/drops of water/milk).

Edit: Do you guys consider a heritage language to be the same as mother tongue? I recently started taking Tamil lessons, and so am learning quite a few Tamil words. I'm not sure if those would qualify for this thread.

I once asked someone on this forum the very same question, and I think the answer I got was that you can count it as your mother tongue if you self-identify with that language. *shrug*

[dEhiN]

plankter the singular of plankton

I'm used to using plankton like a mass noun. So I would say a single plankton as well as many plankton.

That's not a mass noun; that's just a case where the plural and singular happen to be identical. A mass noun would be something like "water" and "milk" where the word refers to a mass, not something that can be counted (cf. a drop/drops of water/milk).

Oh ok, thanks for the clarification.

Edit: Do you guys consider a heritage language to be the same as mother tongue? I recently started taking Tamil lessons, and so am learning quite a few Tamil words. I'm not sure if those would qualify for this thread.

I once asked someone on this forum the very same question, and I think the answer I got was that you can count it as your mother tongue if you self-identify with that language. *shrug*

Not quite sure what self-identify means in this case, but I'll go with it. I guess one of my big reasons for wanting to learn Tamil is that I do consider is a mother tongue even if I don't speak it.

[linguoboy]

[flag=]en[/flag] acroamatic relating to esoteric knowledge transmitted orally

I was looking for synonyms of "cabalistic" and stumbled across this word. I don't ever remember seeing it before and now I can't wait to use it.

[Osias]

plankter the singular of plankton

Ugh, I can't believe I learned a word about ecology. I feel dirty now.

And I thought it should be plankta.

[linguoboy]

plankter the singular of plankton

Ugh, I can't believe I learned a word about ecology. I feel dirty now.

And I thought it should be plankta.

The plural should be "plankta".

But it's a modern invention anyway, so Anglophone scientists can freely coin any forms they need.

[Osias]

They should give a new name to the animal octopus.

[Dormouse559]

I like "octopus", and I think "octopodes" would be a badass plural. Alas, the Anglosphere never came around to its charms.