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 » Embarrassing amnesia
[This is a guest post by David Moser] Part I I was giving a talk the other day, in Chinese, to Chinese students, about English pedagogy (go figure). I wanted to mention something about the difficulty of remembering how to write Chinese characters, and I chose to use an example of the idiom 韬光养晦 tao1guang1yang3hui4, "to hide your light under … [Link]
Language Log » Etymology in the rain forest
“Scientist discovers puppy-sized spider in rain forest", ABC 11 Eyewitness News 10/20/2014: For all readers with arachnophobia, take a moment to collect yourself before proceeding further, because this spider will haunt your dreams. Harvard Etymologist Piotr Naskrecki recently posted on his blog about an encounter in Guyana's rainforest with a South American Goliath birdeater, a spider so large it's the size … [Link]
languagehat.com » Khedive.
I’m continuing to read Abulafia’s The Great Sea 
Language Log » Ebola fear stalks Bloomberg headlines
Bloomberg News is notorious for its bizarre, impenetrable headlines. There's a whole Tumblr blog devoted to strange Bloomberg headlines, and Quartz last year ran an article looking into "how Bloomberg headlines got to be so odd." Here's a new one, spotted by David Craig and Brett Wilson: 
Mark Liberman noted another Bloomberg specimen last January: "Madonna addicted to sweat dance … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Languages in Bhutan
I listened to a very interesting programme on the BBC about languages in Bhutan today. It mentioned that although the 19 or so indigenous languages of Bhutan have equal status, in theory at least. In practise, particularly in education, the main languages used are Dzongkha / Bhutanese and English, and to a lesser extent, Nepali. Kids are discouraged from, or … [Link]
Language Log » "German type sexual harassment"
From the German "Fun Pics und lustige Videos" website isnichwahr.de comes this hilarious photograph of a dish served at the Quansheng Hotel 泉昇大酒店 (I think that it is in Changsha, Hunan): 
The Chinese says Dé shì xiánzhūshǒu 德式咸猪手 (German style "salted pig's knuckle / trotter"; cf. Schweinshaxe; Stelze in Austria). Xiánzhūshǒu 咸猪手 also has the derived meaning "groper", which is … [Link]
Language Log » Death before syntax?
Ursula K. LeGuin, "Introducing Myself": What it comes down to, I guess, is that I am just not manly. Like Ernest Hemingway was manly. The beard and the guns and the wives and the little short sentences. I do try. I have this sort of beardoid thing that keeps trying to grow, nine or ten hairs on my chin, sometimes … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » wearable bed
Developed in Japan, has two modes: 'bed' and 'coat.' Can be worn as a coat or used as an inflatable bed. Allows a person to sleep anywhere they want, and is one size fits all. Mike: "What a great idea! The wearable bed."Ann: "Yeah, I wish I thought of that."
[Link]
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