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
languagehat.com » Aramaic, Magical and Naughty.
Aramaist Edward Cook has fun with recent pop-culture uses of Aramaic in his post “You Won’t Believe These Unbelievable Aramaic Expressions!!” (Great title, as is the name of his blog, Ralph the Sacred River.) He gives a noogie to Lev Grossman’s The Magician King, which purports to quote an actual sentence: I’m not sure if Quentin recited the text from … [Link]
Language Log » "Slide down my cellar door"
In a 2010 NYT “On Language” column, Grant Barrett traced the claim that “cellar door” is the most beautiful phrase in English back as far as 1905 1903. I posted on the phrase a few years ago ("The Romantic Side of Familiar Words"), suggesting that there was a reason why linguistic folklore fixed on that particular phrase, when you could … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? 
Share [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » neckbeard
1. (n) Facial hair that does not exist on the face, but instead on the neck. Almost never well groomed. 2. (n) Derogatory term for slovenly nerdy people who have no sense of hygene or grooming. Often related to hobbies such as card gaming, video gaming, anime, et. al. If this party is full of f*cking neckbeards, I'm out. I've … [Link]
Language Log » Bad shits
I received the following photograph of a sign taken by Son Ha Dinh in Damak, Nepal: 
Son Ha helped us so much with these two posts: "Unknown Language #7," "Unknown Language #7: update." Damak is a town in eastern Nepal where Son Ha works in a refugee camp and where he encountered the woman who is featured in those two … [Link]
Language Log » Wantan soup for überman hubby
Here is a handwritten note left by a man for his wife: 
And here is the Facebook post in which the note was embedded (with names blurred, but otherwise intact): 
Before I transcribe and translate the note, I should explain how it came into my hands and who the players are. The addressee (recipient) of the note, who posted it … [Link]
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