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

Wordorigins.org » zero gravity, zero g, microgravity

Monday 28 July 19:24:07 UTC 2014

Zero gravity is one of those words that appears in science fiction before science and engineering had an actual need for it. Zero gravity, also called zero g or microgravity, is the state of weightlessness experienced in outer space (and, as we shall see, at the center of the earth). [Link]

languagehat.com » Yei Bohu.

Monday 28 July 19:06:50 UTC 2014

Alexander Anichkin, who comments here as Sashura, has a funny post about some language used by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is both undiplomatic and untranslatable, namely that the EU, in supporting the US, “played the role of the well-known ‘under-officer’s widow,’ who flogged herself” (выступил в роли небезызвестной “унтер-офицерской вдовы”, которая сама себя высекла). For one thing, the … [Link]

Wordorigins.org » microgravity

Monday 28 July 18:57:00 UTC 2014

See zero gravity [Link]

Language Log » Philological teaser

Monday 28 July 16:10:26 UTC 2014

From George Walkden on Facebook: "Syntactic Reconstruction and Proto-Germanic: Cinematic Teaser". (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/~ fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Post by George Walkden. We don't normally promote books, but that promotional video is special. Like the trailer, OUP promises the book for … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » dickmatized

Monday 28 July 7:00:00 UTC 2014

when a person ignores the fact that the man they are dating is an asshole/abusive/worthless because they just want to be in a relationship or just want the sex. its the converse of the term pussy-whipped. "see, a woman who's dickmatized says shit like 'oh, no no, he don't be hitting me, i just be walking into the punches and … [Link]

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