Almost everyone uses language, so inevitably almost everyone thinks they are an expert in it. I don’t consider myself an expert, though most of my work requires at least language competence and sometimes actual skill, and I’m certainly not a linguist, but I do look at the blogs featured on this feeds page (too often if the truth be told).
(If you are wondering where the translation-related feeds have all gone, I have put them on their own page.)
Most of the blogs represented here are in English, most of the time, but don’t be surprised to find other languages used. Go with the flow – I occasionally find myself pleasantly surprised at how much I can grasp in languages I have never seen before.
Language On the Net
Language Log » The evolution of the cocktail
A note in "Random Samples" in the July 9 Science relates how in graduate school, evolutionary biologist James Harriman wondered whether [quirks of personal taste in drinks] evolve into popular cocktails much as mutations give rise to new species, through a sort of taste-based natural selection. So Harriman, now a visiting scientist at Cornell University, fired up a computer program … [Link]
Language Log » Tarp audit questions
Crash blossom of the day: 
Rick Rubenstein (aka Rubrick) writes: My first reading interpreted "TARP Audit Questions" as a triple-noun phrase, and down the garden path I went, with the questions rushing to close the dealers. My second reading was the correct one. My third reading, in which the TARP Audit forced dealers to close by the expedient of interrogating … [Link]
languagehat.com » CHIRIMEN-BON.
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies has an exhibition on "Crepe-Paper Books and Woodblock Prints"; there's lots of interesting stuff there, but I'll call your attention to the Preface, which discusses the phenomenon of "crepe-paper books," called chirimen-bon in Japanese (縮緬紙 chirimen is 'crepe paper'):The term "chirimen-bon" refers to books that were made by crinkling "washi" (i.e., Japanese paper) printed with … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » California
The Golden State’s name comes from a Spanish romance written in 1510. Las sergas de Esplandian (The Exploits of Esplandian), by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo, contains a reference to a fictional island called California. “…on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called California, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise…” Since the name was deliberately coined in … [Link]
You Don't Say » How cornball can I get?
See at today's "Joke of the Week": http://www.baltimoresun.com/videobe~ [Link]
Words at Work » From the Language Front
How long will it take for "refudiate" to make it into some Top Ten new words list? It's nice to see an old journalism major handle the language so well. I confess, I sort of like the word, but somehow, I think its invention was an accident. Refute? Often misused. Repudiate? Probably not understood. It's no wonder we can't get … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Cockblocked by Steve Jobs
The act or reactive measure when the opposite sex makes eye-contact with you and then proceeds to plug in their iPod as a defense mechanism to prevent you from making a move on them. Josh: I saw this girl on the bus and was going to hit on her, then she busted out her iPod. Sam: Aw man, you got … [Link]
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2 responses so far ↓
1 The End of Civilization As We Know It // Feb 1, 2009 at %I:%M %p
[...] it is declaredly prescriptivist, and the descriptivists might otherwise be over-represented on the Language Stuff [...]
2 Bare-bones HTML or CMS? // Mar 18, 2009 at %I:%M %p
[...] Language Stuff [...]
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