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 » Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.

Thursday 4 December 18:32:10 UTC 2014

Matt at No-sword posts about a wonderful site: The Charles Darwin University Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages is “a digital archive of endangered literature in Indigenous languages of the Northern Territory”. This site is amazing; I’m sure that pretty much everyone reading this will understand the appeal of a giant headline reading “Click on the map to start looking at … [Link]

Language Log » All the lonely Starbucks lovers

Thursday 4 December 13:09:18 UTC 2014

Melissa Dahl, "Why You Keep Mishearing That Taylor Swift Lyric", New York Magazine 11/24/2014: There is a line in the newest Taylor Swift single “Blank Space” that I always, always hear wrong: Where Swift sings Got a long list of ex-lovers, for some reason I mishear, All the lonely Starbucks lovers. This makes no sense, but my brain persists in … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » You're learning!

Thursday 4 December 8:36:36 UTC 2014

used to describe someone being exceedingly stupid or when someone screws up Teacher: Joseph what is 2+43. Joseph: Is it 69. Class: YOU'RE LEARNING!!! [Link]

Language Log » Lap Sangsouchong

Thursday 4 December 2:42:10 UTC 2014

You probably know it as Lapsang Souchong. It is one of the most vexed and poorly understood of all English names for teas from China, many of which are notoriously difficult to figure out because they arose over a period of several hundred years and derived from numerous different Sinitic topolects. A couple of days ago, South Coblin sent me … [Link]

languagehat.com » How The Strand Keeps Going.

Thursday 4 December 1:33:04 UTC 2014

Like most bookish New Yorkers and ex-New Yorkers, I have a love-hate relationship with the Strand; I’ve spent a tremendous amount of money there, but I’ve also done a fair amount of cursing (at lousy layout, indifferent employees, derisory offers for books I tried to sell, etc.). Thus I was glad to read Christopher Bonanos’s piece in New York magazine, … [Link]

Archive