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
Language Log » Greater and lesser conveniences
From Facebook, via Victor Steinbok, comes this notice from Shun Tak Holdings Property Management Limited: 
The Chinese says: Gù jǐ jí rén, qǐng wù suídì dàxiǎo èr biàn 顧己及人，請勿隨地大小二便 "In consideration of oneself and others, please do not urinate and defecate wherever you please." This is but the latest installment of Language Log posts on dàbiàn 大便 ("big convenience", i.e., … [Link]
languagehat.com » Mèfi and Ratapignata.
This MetaTalk thread (about the owner, Matt Haughey, donating the twitter handle “mefi” to OGC Nice for the use of their eagle mascot) led to a couple of interesting words in Niçois/Niçard, mèfi ‘watch out!’ and ratapignata ‘bat,’ a symbol of Nice: The ratapignata of Nice is not well-known outside of the city, and even articles on it in French … [Link]
the world in words » A history of Hebrew, told one word at a time
Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in Israel is labeled “glida,” the Aramaic word for frost. In modern Hebrew, it means ice cream. (Photo: Daniel Estrin)Here’s a guest post from Daniel Estrin, who lives in Jerusalem. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the history of words over centuries. In Israel, linguists are still compiling a similar dictionary for the ancient Hebrew language. English … [Link]
Language Log » The concept of "mother" in linguistics
I began drafting this post around Mother's Day, which we recently observed, but got distracted by other things. This is an old topic that I've been thinking about for years. Namely, I've long been intrigued by the use of mǔ 母 ("mother") in linguistic terms, such as zìmǔ 字母 ("letter", lit., "character mother") (e.g., sānshíliù zìmǔ 三十六字母 ["36 initial consonants"]), … [Link]
Language Log » Usage masochism
I think it is time to make public my private suspicion that most of the customers for prescriptive usage guides are masochists. They want to be punished for imaginary grammar crimes. I plan to speak out. My paper at the Cambridge English Usage Guides Symposium this Friday afternoon will be entitled "The usage game: catering to perverts." Abstract here. It … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Appoholic
When a person is addicted to downloading apps, mostly useless apps that they use once or twice and then forget about. Most common with little kids who own iPads and tablets. Person 1: Why do you have so many apps on your phone?? A Spiderman voice changer app?? Seriously?? Person 2: Don't judge me, I'll use it someday. Person 1: … [Link]
Language Log » Value added
From Eric Baković: A paper of mine that was just published included the following sentence in the abstract, helpfully "corrected" by an overzealous copy-editor: The focus [of this chapter] is on two main goals of phonological description and analysis: the establishment of generalizations about which members of a set of posited phonological constituents are irreducibly basic and that are derived, … [Link]
languagehat.com » Where Did Yiddish Come From?
Tablet magazine, an excellent source of discussion of all things Jewish, has reprinted a 2010 article by the late Cherie Woodworth (I wrote about her sudden death last year, and I still miss her and find it hard to believe she’s gone) on the titular subject; she begins with the great scholar Max Weinreich and the new edition of his … [Link]
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