John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

John Gordon Ross header image 3

Language Stuff

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 » The spread of mondegreens should have ended with the Internet — but it hasn’t

Tuesday 25 November 22:06:38 UTC 2014

Was Jimi Hendrix kissing ‘the sky’ or ‘this guy’? Read this post from Alina Simone. Or listen to the podcast above. You may not know what “mondegreen” means, but you definitely have a great mondegreen story — like maybe mishearing the chorus for the Cuban song “Guantanamera” as “One ton tomato. I ate a one ton tomato.” The word mondegreen was … [Link]

languagehat.com » The Unity of Australian Languages: 1841.

Tuesday 25 November 15:21:15 UTC 2014

Matt of No-sword posts a quote from Dixon’s The Languages of Australia (which looks wonderful — insert ritual complaint about overpriced academic books here) involving George Grey‘s “second great breakthrough in Australian linguistic studies”, in Grey’s 1841 Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, During the Years 1837, 1838, and 1839: Grey showed not only that … [Link]

Language Log » No word for fetch

Tuesday 25 November 15:20:23 UTC 2014

By Drew Dernavich, originally published August 20, 2007, a cartoon addition to our No Word for X archive: Or, to put it another way: "They have no words for anything, but they have no concept for 'fetch'." [h/t Joan M.] [Link]

World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Stepney

Tuesday 25 November 8:30:00 UTC 2014

In India, a 'Stepney' is a spare wheel. It's from an early British motoring success story. [Link]

World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Mx

Tuesday 25 November 8:30:00 UTC 2014

A new gender-neutral title is appearing in the UK: 'Mx' [Link]

World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Mammock

Tuesday 25 November 8:30:00 UTC 2014

Southern US and one-time British dialect 'mammock' means to mangle or maul. [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » you fit the description

Tuesday 25 November 8:30:00 UTC 2014

Phrase that police use to justify arresting any African American in any situation. I stopped you because you fit the description of a suspect who robbed a liquor store. [Link]

Archive

No Comments

0 responses so far ↓

  • There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

You must log in to post a comment.