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

languagehat.com » Symbolist Zhukovsky, Acmeist Batyushkov.

Saturday 8 November 23:27:03 UTC 2014

I’ve gotten to the third chapter of The Cambridge History of Russian Literature (see this post), Mark Altshuller’s “The transition to the modern age: Sentimentalism and preromanticism, 1790–1820,” and I found this comparison unexpected and interesting enough to pass on: At Zhukovsky‘s hands the individual word in Russian poetry for the first time becomes multivalent, and its shades of meaning … [Link]

Language Log » Keith Ablow's pronoun usage doesn't indicate narcissism

Saturday 8 November 23:22:51 UTC 2014

David Bauder, "Fox's Ablow regularly 'diagnoses' Obama", AP 11/6/2014: Over the years, psychiatrist Keith Ablow has diagnosed President Barack Obama as a man with abandonment issues dating back to his upbringing, a person with a victim's mentality who secretly identifies more with Africa than America. There's no evidence that Ablow has actually treated the president. Yet the Fox News Channel … [Link]

Language Log » Blaming the messenger?

Saturday 8 November 20:09:57 UTC 2014

R.L. writes to ask whether the phrase "a life-threatening diagnosis" is unfairly blaming the messenger. The way to understand this common phrase, I think, is to consider the typical interpretation of phrases of the form "NOUN diagnosis". Thus a "cancer diagnosis" is a diagnosis of (the condition) cancer", not a diagnosis that is cancer. And similarly for "AIDS diagnosis", "ADHD … [Link]

Language Log » A French Japanese Chinese restaurant

Saturday 8 November 18:17:09 UTC 2014

From Victor Steinbok: This is the entrance to a restaurant in Paris. Taken all together, the writing is a bit of a mishmash. It will require some effort to sort things out clearly. Starting with the noren 暖簾 ("door hanging"), we have 中華料理 ("Chinese cuisine / cooking"). Although this particular instance has something of a Chinese look to it, the … [Link]

World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Lily-low

Saturday 8 November 14:30:00 UTC 2014

Lilly-low is an old northern English and Scottish dialect term for a flame. [Link]

Omniglot blog » English only in Lidl

Saturday 8 November 11:18:21 UTC 2014

It’s been in the news recently that Lidl supermarkets in the UK have a policy that their staff should speak only English to customers, irrespective of their native language in order to ensure that staff and customers “feel comfortable”. Apparently this is “for the benefit of all our customers as well as our staff to ensure a comfortable environment where … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » E-bola

Saturday 8 November 9:00:00 UTC 2014

something people chant while running through the hallways at my school. It is sung just like the Ri-cola commercial John: *coughs*Everyone in room: e-bola!!!!!! [Link]

Language Log » "Due to" and the Conservation of Peeving

Saturday 8 November 2:03:40 UTC 2014

From Megan Stone, via Heidi Harley: A friend of mine, who was an English major with me in undergrad, runs the Twitter account for MBTA, the Boston public transportation system. This morning, she posted the following: “#MBTA #OrangeLine Svc is suspended at DTX due to a Medical Emergency. For Green Line Svc, please board at Park St. http://bit.ly/1c6GJEk”. And a … [Link]

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