John Gordon Ross

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

the world in words » How the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have shaped military slang

Friday 31 October 19:54:37 UTC 2014

A jinglytruck (British English)/jingle truck (American English) in Afghanistan. (Photo: Kurt Clark via Flickr) Here’s a post from The Big Show’s Leo Hornak. How do you feel about doing armourbarma on the way to Butlins? Or getting a craphat to check for Terry in a jinglytruck? Unless you’re a member of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, you’re probably totally confused. The British … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Borborygmus

Friday 31 October 17:54:50 UTC 2014

I came across a wonderful word today – borborygmus [bɔrbəˈrɪɡməs] (plural borborygmi) – which refers to a rumble or gurgle in the stomach. It comes from the 16th-century French word borborygme, via Latin from the Ancient Greek βορβορυγμός (borborygmós), which was probably onomatopoetical [source, via The Week]. Are there interesting words for this phenomenon in other languages? Share [Link]

Language Log » Tim Cook, Bent Man

Friday 31 October 17:23:12 UTC 2014

Last week, China was gaga over Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg for gamely, if somewhat lamely, speaking Mandarin before an audience of Tsinghua University students: "Zuckerberg's Mandarin" (10/23/14) In the days following his sensational performance at Tsinghua, while not universally showered with adulation (and Facebook is still blocked in China), Zuckerberg was generally acclaimed for his gutsy, good-natured effort to speak … [Link]

languagehat.com » He Got the Job.

Friday 31 October 17:21:59 UTC 2014

From Timothy Garton Ash’s NYRB review of Censors at Work: How States Shaped Literature by Robert Darnton (incidentally, I find the title odd, seeming to place censorship in an antique past — I would have gone with “Have Shaped” or “Shape”): In British India, the censors—not formally so called—were scholars and gentlemen, either British members of the elite Indian Civil … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » banana polish

Friday 31 October 8:00:00 UTC 2014

Any kind of hand lotion like Jergen's or Intensive Care that teenage boys use to jackoff. Mom, if you're going to the store, Brad needs some more banana polish! [Link]

languagehat.com » Linguistic Family Tree.

Friday 31 October 0:12:59 UTC 2014

We’re all used to the idea of the tree as a model of development through time, whether of species or languages, but rarely is it portrayed so strikingly as in Minna Sundberg’s gorgeous rendering (from the site for her webcomic Stand Still. Stay Silent). The only quibble I might have is that it appears (from the connection of the root … [Link]

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