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 » Neoguri: raccoon or raccoon dog?
The typhoon that struck Okinawa a few days ago and is now passing by Tokyo is called Neoguri. It gets it name from a Korean word meaning "raccoon dog". The Japanese refer to it as Taifū 8-gō Neoguri 台風８号ネオグ リ ("Typhoon No. 8 Neoguri"), but most often without the "Neoguri" (see below for discussion of Japanese typhoon designation practices). However, … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » voluntary, volunteer
The adjective voluntary has a rather straightforward etymology. It comes from the Latin voluntarius, meaning willing, of one’s own choice, via the Old French voluntaire. The Latin noun voluntas means will or desire. [Link]
Omniglot blog » Les coups de glotte and other coups
Yesterday I discovered that the French for glottal stop is coup de glotte (“blow of the glottis”). The word coup (blow, shot, stroke, wave, kick, punch, move) appears in many other expressions, including: – (donner un) coup de balai = (to) sweep; shake up – coup de vent = blow of wind – coup de tête = header; whim – … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Helicopter Girlfriend
A hovering, slightly neurotic, but well-meaning, girlfriend who gets way too involved in her partner's day to day activities to the point of interfering with their activities and choices. She is a total helicopter girlfriend who always makes everyone else stop talking to announce her boyfriend is about to say something.
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Language Log » When half of a quarter is all, or at least mostly
Steve Connor, "Nature rather than nurture governs intelligent behaviour in primates, scientists discover", The Independent 7/10/2014: The vexed question of whether intelligence is inherited from birth or acquired through education seems to have been answered – for chimpanzees at least. Scientists have found that being a smart primate is down to genes rather than upbringing, suggesting that nature rather than … [Link]
languagehat.com » Mana.
Back in 2007 I posted about mana, but that was about an early Japanese writing system called mana or man’yōgana. This is about mana the Polynesian concept of supernatural force — and, as it turns out (heretofore unbeknownst to me), a common term for magic points in contemporary role-playing games. This is laid out in detail in an article by … [Link]
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