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 » Ancient Graffiti Allegedly Found.
The Guardian has a story by Helena Smith, “World’s earliest erotic graffiti found in unlikely setting on Aegean island” (subhead “Racy inscriptions and phalluses carved into Astypalaia’s rocky peninsula shed light on very private lives of ancient Greece,” hubba hubba!) that’s been making the rounds, and naturally I was curious (thanks for the link, Eric!). Usually, when newspapers report scientific … [Link]
Language Log » Flabbering
Peter Mucha, "Lottery legend Joan Ginther bet flabbering sums on scratch-offs", philly.com 7/6/2014: For years, people who dream of beating the lottery have puzzled over the amazing case of Joan Ginther, who made headlines around the world by scratching off “10MILL” on a $50 instant ticket in June 2010 to win her fourth multimillion-dollar prize. Skeptics wondered if she cheated … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » Ur-etyma Count
Linguist Victor Mair has a post over at Language Log on how many root-concepts appear in Proto-Indo-European and other language families. Mair concludes that there are only some 1,200–1,500 root concepts in each of the language families that are used to form other words. There are a lot of problems with the data, which Mair acknowledges, primarily that the number … [Link]
Language Log » Helpful label
This is spreading widely on the internets: 
The lack of circumstantial details makes me suspect it's a fake, but it's still an amusing one. Update — As X notes in the comments, it's not fake as in "created by photoshop", but it IS fake in the sense of being added as an ironic joke by a company known for such … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » granny manties
A Grandmother who wears her husband's underwear because she confused them with her own. My Grandpa thinks someone is stealing his drawers because my Grandma's eyesight is slipping and she's turned his laundry into her very own Granny Manties!
[Link]
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