Language Stuff

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 » Lou Gehrig's crash blossom

Friday 30 July 23:35:47 CDT 2010

Arijit Guha sent along this remarkable crash blossom from the CNN website (spotted by his wife Heather): Lou Gehrig's victim: Kill me for my organs The lead paragraph explains: Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — A Georgia man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease says he wants to die by having his organs harvested rather than wait for his degenerative nerve ailment to kill him. It's hard to read the headline … [Link]

You Don't Say » Two words for writers of feature stories

Friday 30 July 22:37:23 CDT 2010

When a writer takes up a subject charged with emotion — the death of a child, an older person’s lingering demise, or, at the other extreme, the marriage of a former president’s daughter — it is easy to let control slip. It is salutary to keep in mind two words that you never want anyone to apply to your work. … [Link]

You Don't Say » Not attending Chelsea Clinton's wedding

Friday 30 July 18:48:21 CDT 2010

1. Wasn’t invited. 2. Saturday’s a work day for me anyhow. If you are at loose ends and miffed at having been left out, let me suggest that you amuse yourselves with Sally Quinn’s celebration of the nuptials in The Washington Post’s On Faith blog. In fact, don’t just read it. Print it out and preserve it. It is the … [Link]

Language Log » Scientific reasoning across the multiverse

Friday 30 July 17:34:14 CDT 2010

With a hat tip to Bruce Webster, more cartoons for the weekend, this time from Jonathan Rosenberg's Scenes from a Multiverse: Selection bias and confirmation bias (both old favorites in these parts, especially in connection with people's estimates about who says what, how often, and how long they've been doing it), all in one four-panel strip. And then a well-known … [Link]

Language Log » And in Spanish, we dance …

Friday 30 July 16:54:27 CDT 2010

Dance translations for the culturally inexperienced: Is this a loose translation? [Link]

Language Log » Irreversibly loved

Friday 30 July 15:51:20 CDT 2010

Yesterday, on our way to school, my four-year-old commented, "When you love somebody, it can't be unloved. That's 'irreversible change'." I'm not sure which I appreciate more, the sweet sentiment (don't we all wish this were 100% true?), the generalization of a concept he learned on Sid the Science Kid, or the example of unloved in this unconventional usage. Why … [Link]

languagehat.com » YU MING IS AINM DOM.

Friday 30 July 15:43:27 CDT 2010

Dave Wilton at Wordorigins.org presents this video with the words "This is a great little story about the expectations people have about language," and I won't add anything to that except that it choked me up a little. It will take less than ten minutes of your time, and it's worth it. [Link]

Wordorigins.org » Even More on Language and Thought

Friday 30 July 10:37:00 CDT 2010

I’m getting to like The Economist’s “Johnson” blog on language more and more. I was disappointed in their debut posts, but since then they’ve rapidly come up in my estimation. This time around they’ve aptly summarized the work of Stanford linguist Lena Boroditsky that was recently reported in the Wall Street Journal’s “Lost in Translation” article. What’s especially impressive for … [Link]

You Don't Say » Ah, journalism

Friday 30 July 9:58:39 CDT 2010

An article appeared in The Sun earlier this week with an Evocative Ah lead.* You know the sort: Ah, summertime! Or Ah, ripe peaches! Or Ah, homicides! The Evocative Ah opening is so versatile that it can be used in any season, for any subject, and is equally meaningless for all of them. The Evocative Ah is not alone. Writers … [Link]

Language Log » The Toronto Star is a serial distorter

Friday 30 July 9:31:42 CDT 2010

A couple of days ago, the Toronto Star completely screwed up its explanation of the IELTS English proficiency test, by presenting as "an example of Part 1 of the writing test" some badly-designed material from a training booklet not even published by the test designers, asking questions of a kind that are apparently never found on the test. Arnold Zwicky … [Link]

Words at Work » The Autism Job Market

Friday 30 July 9:00:00 CDT 2010

Oh, this is interesting. In an article about jobs for people with autism/Asperger's, journalism and copy editing come up. I've always wondered about quirks and obsessions (I know that isn't limited to autism). We've all seen reporters and editors with strong likes and dislikes about how they work. When I was first starting out in the business and using a … [Link]

Language Log » More evidence that peeving is popular

Friday 30 July 8:59:10 CDT 2010

There's a weblog associated with Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True. A couple of days ago, Jerry (or whoever writes on the blog under the name "whyevolutionistrue") posted a couple of familiar eggcorns, described as "two solecisms [that] have recently appeared on this site", and invited readers to "Feel free to contribute those mistakes that most irk you, making … [Link]

Wordorigins.org » Video Friday: yu ming is ainm dom

Friday 30 July 8:46:00 CDT 2010

This is a great little story about the expectations people have about language: (Hat tip: James Fallows) [Link]

Words at Work » Time Takes Sides

Friday 30 July 8:29:00 CDT 2010

The problem with this cover is not the stark image–it shows the brutality that women face in Afghanistan. The issue is the headline: it suggests this imagery is what we can expect should American forces leave after nine years. The problem is, it's what is happening NOW, with us in the country. I am not naive. Things will not go … [Link]

Language Log » Plastic

Friday 30 July 6:46:05 CDT 2010

One of the puzzles of the whole "Plastic Bertrand" drama for Americans is that we don't like plastic. In a famous scene from The Graduate (1967), "plastics" is a one-word symbol for the emptiness of mainstream success: In Mean Girls (2004), "the Plastics" are "an exclusive group of girls led by queen bee Regina George", who are depicted as shallow, … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » How is Everything Check

Friday 30 July 2:00:00 CDT 2010

The 2 minute check a waiter/waitress does after they bring your meal to the table. Person1:"We need a new fork. This one fell on the floor."Person2:"I'll ask the waiter to get a new one on his how is everything check." [Link]

John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons