I'm nearly certain that the dictionary definitions here come from the OS X version of the New Oxford American Dictionary. (The bad spacings in the cross-references give it away.)
And Charlie? He's so cool like!
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04/16/2011
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And maybe if the songwriters had actually read the definitions, they'd know that there's no such thing as a sibilant bilabial plosive...
Posted by: Ben Zimmer | 04/16/2011 at 09:31 PM
Charlieissocoollike! You've become even more awesome that I knew you already were.
Posted by: Cgwarren2 | 04/17/2011 at 01:06 AM
Sorry, just listened to it again, and the line is "She's got two sibilants, no bilabial plosives." Online transcriptions of the lyrics have it wrong. Carry on...
Posted by: Ben Zimmer | 04/17/2011 at 06:48 AM
Even better than What's Your English? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2cCZX106AE
Posted by: Persona | 04/17/2011 at 07:04 AM
(Now Language Logged: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3091 )
Posted by: Ben Zimmer | 04/17/2011 at 11:15 AM