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Non-VIrgin...a Lexical Gap?

2010-09-22 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Everyday life, Personal life) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: recurring series

Hank tells how a tweet asking for 'the word for when there should be a word' taught him from Nerdfighters what a lexical gap (lacuna) is, then writes to 15-year-old John that science, like critical reading, is one of many ways to learn what and how to think.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; Hank holds up his 'letter to 15-year-old John', actually a bank statement about his overdraft coverage

00:00:15 — Story: a troll's 'nerds die virgins' comment, no word for the opposite of virgin, Hank's tweet asking the word for a missing word, Nerdfighters answer 'lexical gap' and 'lacuna' (Romanian 'shallow', English plural 'you')

  • ★★ Hank says that while reading the vlogbrothers comments he saw a reference to nerds dying virgins, a common statement among trolls. — 00:00:20 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★ Hank says 'deflowered', his first choice for the opposite, has a negative connotation, with synonyms like corrupt and sully. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:37
  • ★★ Hank says there is really no word for the opposite of virgin, and there should be a word for when there is no word for something. — 00:00:57
  • ★★ Hank tweeted, as a joke rather than a serious question, asking for the word for when there should be a word for something but there isn't. — 00:01:09 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says Nerdfighters, 'because Nerdfighters know this stuff', quickly tweeted back that there is a phrase for it: lexical gap. — 00:01:19 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank says Romanian has no word for 'shallow', so translators into Romanian must say 'not-so-deep'. — 00:01:33
  • ★★ Hank says English has no plural for 'you', which leads people to invent words like y'all and youse guys. — 00:01:41

  • ★★ After another follower suggested 'lacuna', Hank explains that for linguists a lacuna is a missing word that should exist; with non-linguists, 'lexical gap' is clearer. — 00:01:54

    “a lacuna is when there is no word for something that there should be a word for”

00:02:19 — Letter to 15-year-old John: science, like critical reading, teaches what and how to think; many routes to the same place

  • ★★★ In his letter, Hank tells 15-year-old John that school math and science feel like torture, but science helps us understand what to think about and how. — 00:02:26 · first in: 2010-09-20, Life Is Like Pizza
  • ★★ Hank says 33-year-old John will write a video letter to 15-year-old Hank saying the same thing about critical reading, and he will be right. (playful) — 00:02:42
  • ★★★ Hank says there are many routes to choosing what and how to think (critical reading for John; statistics, population dynamics and evolutionary theory for him); what matters for a good life is getting there. — 00:02:55

00:03:18 — 'Dump your girlfriend' before she dumps you; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank tells 15-year-old John to dump his girlfriend now, so that he has one girlfriend in his past he dumped before she dumped him. (joke) — 00:03:18

Humor (significant)

  • Hank holds up his letter to 15-year-old John, then admits it is a bank statement. — 00:00:06

    “Actually it's an important update regarding my overdraft coverage.”

  • Hank resolves his self-referential question after learning the linguists' term. — 00:02:07

    “and there is a word for when there should be a word for something, and that word is lacuna”

  • Hank's letter to 15-year-old John repeats John's letter almost word for word, with science in place of critical reading. — 00:02:42

    “when you're 33, you're going to write a video letter to 15-year-old me saying those exact same things about critical reading.”

  • Hank orders 15-year-old John to dump a girlfriend he knows nothing about, for John's future self-esteem. — 00:03:24

    “if there is ONE girlfriend in your past that you managed to dump before she dumped you”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: lexical gap · science · virginity

Also: close reading · English language · evolution · population dynamics · Romanian language · statistics · Twitter

Also centred on lexical gap: Dumping My Girlfriend

Also centred on science: You are Probably Underestimating Jane Goodall’s Impact · I Wasn't Always Like This!!

Also centred on virginity: Dumping My Girlfriend

Replies to

  • continues · Life Is Like Pizza — “you're going to write a video letter to 15-year-old me saying those exact same things”

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2010-09-20 – 2010-09-24.