"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Earworm

Did you know that there's a word for that catchy tune you that you can't get out of your head? It's called an earworm! I found this definition -
“Earworm, a calque of the German Ohrwurm, is a term for a portion of a song or other musical material that becomes stuck in a person's head.”

This led me to wonder what a calque was! It seems it is an expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language.
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3 comments:

  1. Marc13 January 2009 at 19:26

    Is there a word for the condition of being particular vulnerable to earworms?

    Because if there is, I have it.

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  2. Scriptor Senex14 January 2009 at 03:21

    Earwormitis sounds like a reasonable word to use. I suspect we all suffer from 'earwormitis' to some extent but have you noticed that some individuals are particularly susceptible to specific tunes and that some tunes seem to affect us all?
    Perhaps someone should do an analysis and come up with a song that would be an automatic hit because everybody would keep humming it.

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  3. SSQuo14 January 2009 at 19:49

    Haha, I love you idea of the song that includes all the critiria that makes it susceptible to everyone. This is very my kinda blog! I will be following you.

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