John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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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

Language Log » "Closed minds": open to interpretation?

Monday 1 December 20:33:50 UTC 2014

CNN International recently sent out this tweet, linking to an interview with Stella McCartney: Stella McCartney: 'My parents opened doors and closed minds' http://t.co/XPlzOiqzbQ #CNNwomen pic.twitter.com/cvMJ5JPxkC — CNN International (@cnni) November 29, 2014 The headline, which also appears on CNN's website, left some people perplexed. Was Ms. McCartney saying that her parents closed minds, or did they open closed minds? … [Link]

the world in words » Eat your words

Monday 1 December 17:24:39 UTC 2014

Where do the words “ketchup,” “toast” and “salad” come from? [Photos: Steven Depolo (l), Adam Singer (c), stacya (r)/Flickr Creative Commons] Read this post from Alex Gallafent. Or listen to the podcast above. I didn’t think too much about what food I stuffed into my mouth when I was a kid, so long as there was lots of it. No longer. … [Link]

languagehat.com » A Year in Reading 2014.

Monday 1 December 15:09:52 UTC 2014

Once again it’s time for the Year in Reading feature at The Millions, in which people write about books they’ve read and enjoyed during the previous year; my contribution is up, featuring my recommendations of Dan Todes’s superb biography of Pavlov , the books by Peter Hodgson and Gary Saul Morson I’ve discussed here as I read them, and three books … [Link]

Language Log » U.K. political snobbery mostly ignored in U.S. media

Monday 1 December 13:05:25 UTC 2014

At brunch on Saturday, a friend who gets his news from The New York Times observed that he'd read nothing about the Plebgate trial, which has been covered obsessively in the British press (see "Plebgate judgment", 11/28/2014, for some links). And he didn't miss an obscurely-placed item — as far as I can tell from searching the site, the Gray … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Merched Nadolig

Monday 1 December 9:30:30 UTC 2014

Last Saturday I was chatting with a Czech friend in Welsh and describing a recent trip to London. One of the things I mentioned was visiting the Christmas market in Hyde Park, although instead of saying marchnad Nadolig (Christmas market) I said merched Nadolig (Christmas girls/women), much to my friend’s amusement. I realised my mistake almost immediately, but we spent … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Cyberloafing

Monday 1 December 9:00:00 UTC 2014

the act of employees using their organization's Internet access for personal purposes during work hours. The norm for the 21st century employee. Surfing the web for entertainment, sending/receiving personal emails, online chatting, online stock trading, shopping online, etc. during work hours is considered cyberloafing. [Link]

Language Log » Starvations

Monday 1 December 1:15:24 UTC 2014

Nathan Hopson sent in this photo (from Nagoya, Japan, but there are similar stores all over Japan): Nathan was unable to get an interior photo, but there is a company website, of course. Starvations is a kids' boutique of sorts, and appears to be owned by a company called Cozy. From their company history page (here, Japanese only), Babydoll is … [Link]

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