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 » Bowl.
Fans of American football (and, really, all Americans, because you can’t escape football in the news even if you don’t care about it) are familiar with the use of the word “bowl” in stadium names, the most famous being the Rose Bowl. It makes sense, because such stadiums are shaped more or less like bowls, but it’s not so obvious … [Link]
Language Log » Homa Obama
Tom Mazanec sent in the following ad that he saw in a Guangzhou (China) apartment complex: 
I'll transcribe and translate all the main parts of the ad: Àomǎ shì WHO? 奥马是WHO? ("Who is Homa?") Never mind that Àomǎ 奥马 is often used as a sinographic transcription for "Omar", "Omagh" (place name in Northern Ireland), "Alma" (place name in Malaysia), etc.; … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Da mad math
In Welsh and Cornish the usual word for good is da [daː], while in the other Celtic languages words for good are: Breton – mat [maːt˺], Irish – maith [mˠa(ɪ)(h)], Manx – mie [maɪ], and Scottish Gaelic – math [ma]. I’ve wondered for a while whether there were cognates in Welsh and Cornish for these words. Last week I found … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Censor Dodge
The act of deliberately misspelling or otherwise altering a forbidden word (typically profanity) so it isn't blocked by whatever filter that would usually censor it. Forum Post: fvck u allReply: Nice censor dodge.
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