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 » Word Usage over Time in Movies and TV.
You like Google’s Ngram Viewer (LH post), right? Well, Benjamin Schmidt, an assistant professor of history at Northeastern University, has done the same for movies and TV. You can read about it, and see a couple of samples, here. Data keeps getting more searchable and useful! [Link]
Language Log » Accent elimination class
In a better world, the speakers of the "standard" variety would take a prejudice elimination class instead. Update — the Town & Gown divide associated with this sociolinguistic differentiation is in the background of a video featured on boston.com a few days ago ("Medford Resident to Returning Students: ‘Nobody Likes You’", 9/10/2014): [Link]
Language Log » One's deceased father grind
Reader Crystal's friend recently came across the following message which they believe was machine translated from Chinese: "I'm a junior, ready to one's deceased father grind". Ready to WHAT? Perplexed, Crystal and her friend attempted to determine where this bizarre wording may have come from. We couldn't figure out what it meant. Presumably "one's deceased father grind" is some kind … [Link]
Language Log » Baby blues
// Link]
Wordorigins.org » Footnotes in the Digital Age
Last week Tim Parks posted in the New York Review of Books Blog on the need, or rather lack thereof, for formal reference citations in scholarly literature. Parks contends that with the advent of the internet and databases like Project Gutenberg, there is no longer a need for footnotes that give the source of information. Everything is simply a few … [Link]
Language Log » Predictive poetry
A few years ago, people noticed that the predictive typing on Android smartphones could construct interesting phrases all on its own: "Your typical sentence", 6/13/2012. iOS 8 has caught up – Geoffrey Fowler and Joanna Stern, "iOS 8 Keyboard Makes Hilarious 'Mad Libs' For You", WSJ 9/17/2014: Now the latest version of Apple’s iPhone software, iOS 8, adds a layer … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Neo-eisimeileachd / Unthirldom / Independence
As there’s an independence referendum in Scotland today I thought I’d look at a few relevant words in Scottish Gaelic and Scots: Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) Scots English reifreann [rʲɛfərʲɛn̪ˠ] referendum referendum rneo-eisimeileachd [n̪ˠʲɔ eʃɪmələxg] unthirldom independence neo-eisimeileach [n̪ˠʲɔ eʃɪmələx] unthirlit independent bhòt [voʰt̪] vote vote Etymologies – neo-eisimeileachd: from neo- (un-), from Irish neamh-/neimh-, from Middle Irish nem, from Old … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » shoefie
A selfie of your shoes " did you see her shoefie on Instagram of her Chanel pumps?"
[Link]
languagehat.com » References, Please.
I like Tim Parks. Mind you, I haven’t read any of his books, but I’ve always enjoyed his essays when I’ve come across them, usually in the NYRB. His latest blog post for them, however, makes me want to rap him across the knuckles. It’s an extended whine about how annoying it is to create scholarly references and how he … [Link]
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