Books Blog: English Literature & Linguistics

I “invented” the term stomache the other day, by noticing how the words stomach and ache overlap. Why should you say “stomach ache” when they both already share an ach? Take that ach out! Here is a visual depiction of the future evolution of the phrase “stomach ache”:

Urban Dictionary has a definition of its own:

1. Stomache

An idiot who can’t spell “stomach”.
Guy1: Man, my stomache is killing me.
Guy2: It’s stomach, dumbass.

2. stomache

Upset stomach, contracted form of “stomach ache”
You can’t sit on my lap, pet, I have a stomache.

The rest of the Google references will take you to pages about gastroenterology, under the assumption that stomache is really just a common mispelling of stomach. Unfortunately, I’m writing this to tell you that it’s not. It’s its own new portmanteau word, replacing “stomach ache.”

I randomly came across Book Rental Fail on the Failblog, which struck me as hilarious and sad at the same time:

Name: Selekta
Posts: 913

Was just thinking. My sister does a lot of reading, and spends like $1000 a year just on books alone. Most of them she reads once then never looks at again. Is there any kind of like video rental store … but for books? Would make things a lot cheap, plus once one person has read one the next person can get enjoyment from it etc.

We do have such a thing; it’s called a Library!!

We came across this in the grand canyon Hualapai area, a lovely example of an English sentence completely lacking a verb, but still understandable by native speakers. Or, it might be an imperative to service the other door… we’ll leave it up to you to decide.

“This is America, and our only lanaguage is English,” says this van.

I like the idea of a comfy reading cave inside a bookcase.