John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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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, but I do follow the blogs featured on this feeds page.

(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

Urban Word of the Day » pronoun panic

Thursday 23 February 8:30:00 UTC 2012

The state of embarrassed backpedaling following the accidental revelation of a party's gender through the use of a gender-specific pronoun. This slip abruptly ends a series of either gender-neutral phrasings or "pronoun lies." Generally leads to an ineffective self-correction, as there is no further lie that can provide a save. Restricted to certain languages, depending on the grammar of gender. … [Link]

languagehat.com » ACCENTS ON THE JERSEY SHORE.

Thursday 23 February 1:14:21 UTC 2012

I have not actually seen MTV’s show The Jersey Shore, but being a sentient American in the year 2012, I am of course aware of it, and I was amused by Dialect Blog's post about it, pointing out that "Three out of eight of the original cast members are in fact from Staten Island, a working-class borough of New York … [Link]

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