Category: Language

by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

Antonym

• Antonyms are words which have almost the opposite meaning for the given context.
• Since some words have multiple meanings, one must be careful of the meaning associated with an antonym.
• For example, Love and Hate are antonyms.
• In Pali, the antonyms of Lobha (Greed), Dosa (Anger or Hatred) and Moha (Ignorance of Delusion) are Alobha (Non-greed), Adosa (Non-hatred) and Amoha (Non-ignorance or Wisdom).

Homonym

• Homonyms are words which sound the same.
• Examples
  air, heir
  rain, rein, reign
  throne, thrown
• A puzzle based on homonyms :
  “What is the difference between the Prince of Wales and a cricket ball?”
  The Prince of Wales is heir to the throne. A cricket ball is thrown to the air.

Idiom

• is usually a phrase whose meaning is not obvious
• gets the meaning accepted due to usage over time
• is a linguistic device
• During my middle school days, one of my uncles gave me books (including “A Book of Idioms”). From the book, I learned that “the hand that rocks the cradle” stands for “a mother”.
• “Rain cats and dogs” is an idiom which means “Rain heavily”. In this example, the idiom uses a metaphor.
• No one knows the root of the idiom “kick the bucket” meaning “dies”. Someone guessed that a man being hanged by a rope might kick a bucket.
• Idioms should be used sparingly. If you combine two idioms mentioned above and say “The hand that rocked the cradle kicked the bucket” you might receive LOL (Laughing Out Loud).

Synonym

• Synonyms are words which have almost the same meaning for the given context.
• Since some words have multiple meanings, one must specify the meaning associated with a synonym.
• Dictionary, Thesaurus, Lexicon and Vocabulary are synonyms.
  Their usage depends on the context. In general, Lexicon is a body of knowledge (or dictionary) of Latin and Greek.
  At one time, Lexicon is a card game where players create words and score points. It was superseded by Scrabble.

by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

Types

There are several classifications. They are not mutually exclusive.

• Natural Language
• Native Language / Mother Tongue
• Foreign Language
• Spoken Language (e.g. Myanmar Sagar)
• Written Language (e.g. Myanmar Sar)
• Ideal / Universal Language (e.g. Esperanto)
• Machine Language
• Programming Language
• Compiled Language
• Interpreted Language
• Assembly Language / Symbolic / Macro
• Scientific & Technical Language
• Business Language
• Specialty Language (e.g English as a Specialty Language)
• Domain Language
• Meta Language (to describe a language)
• Sign Language
• Body Language
• Dead Language

Major Languages

• Chinese
• English
• Spanish
• Arabic

Dialects

Some languages have dialects.

• English (UK, USA, Australia …)
• French (France, Canada …)
• Spanish (Spain, Latin America …)

English

• English is not our native language.
• For studying abroad, we had to take TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) to prove that we had a reasonably good command of English.
  TOEFL covers (a) Reading Comprehension (b) Listening Comprehension (c) Essay
• Several Community Centers in the USA offer ESL (English as a Second Language).
• Saya Des Rodgers taught English at RIT. He did further studies in the UK. He taught “English as a Specialty Language” (aka ESL in Canada.)

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2035

Analogy

• Comparison of two things that are similar.

Analog

• May stand for “a person or an object which may be compared to another”.
• Devices may be analog, digital or hybrid.
• An analog device uses information represented by a continuous variable.
• An analog thermometer measures temperature via the expansion of the mercury in its bulb.
• The speedometer displays the speed of a car via the needle on its dial.
• Some early computers are analog. e.g. Differential Analyzer
• The sounds produced by a musical instrument are analog.
• Analog information may be digitized by using appropriate sampling techniques.

Converter

• ADC is a tool to convert Analog to Digital.
• DAC is a tool to convert Digital to Analog.

by Hla Min

Updated : May 2025

Definition

• A palindrome reads the same when read forward or backward.
• There are word palindromes, numerical palindromes and musical palindromes.

Examples

• The earliest palindrome supposedly occurred in the Garden of Eden. MADAM I’M ADAM and the reply EVE
• Napoleon Bonaparte is the first Corsican to attend the French Military Academy. He rose to be an Emperor. He supposedly lamented : ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA .
• There were two early Canals (Suez and Panama) to shorten the sea routes. The degree of difficulty was not the same. It took meticulous planning to build the Panama Canal. It gave rise to the palindrome :
  A MAN, A PLAN, PANAMA

• There are palindromes in languages, music and art. The Pulitzer Prize winning book on Escher (Painter), Godel (Mathematician) and Bach (Composer) discusses threads that are common to Maths and Computer Science, Arts and Music. One such thread is a palindrome. For example, a musical composition (which is a palindrome) can be played from the front to back, and vice versa.
• There are numerical palindromes.

101

• It is a numerical palindrome. It reads the same forward and backward.
• Value of “One hundred and one” in the Decimal Number System.
• Value of 5 in the Binary number system.
• Introductory courses are usually named “101” e.g. CS 101 for an introductory course in Computer Science.

• In California, USA, there is a highway named 101. Several companies in the Silicon Valley along Highway 101.
• District 4 of Toastmasters International was divided into District 4 and District 101. Most clubs that are located near Highway 101 were assigned to District 101.

1001

• It is a numerical palindrome.
  It reads the same forward and backward.
• Value of “One thousand and one” in the Decimal number system
• Value of 9. in the Binary number system
• Read “1001 Nights”.
  Scheherezade outwitted a king who killed his wives after their first night together by telling him a different story every night for 1001 nights (and supposedly gave birth to some children).
• In early 2018, I started posting “Trivia”. Completed 1001+ posts in time for my birthday in August, 2018

Feedback

• U San Lin (“Maung Lu Pay”, M87, USA) wrote :
  Wonderful job. It’s best 1000 trivia I ever read. Thanks Sayar.
  Best Regards,
  San Lin

• Saya Dr Myo Khin (C70, Japan) wrote :
  Dear Ko Hla Min,
  Your endless selfless towards the RIT is highly appreciated and please do not stop this meritorious deed.
  May Lord Buddha bless and keep you and your beloved family. Sincerely and Best Regards,
  Your childhood friend
  Myo Khin

• Winston De Penha (SPHS63, Australia) wrote :
  I’ve read all your Trivia posts.
  Hope you remember me.
  I was your classmate.

• Ashin Pannagavesaka wrote :
  Parent #1: My son’s only four and he can already spell his name backwards.
  Parent #2: Oh? And what’s his name?
  Parent #1: Otto.