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

Language Log » When puns are outlawed …

Tuesday 9 December 13:38:28 UTC 2014

Scott Alexander ("Come ye to Bethlinkhem", 12/8/2014) does his best to generate sympathy for the Chinese authorities: China bans puns on the grounds that they may mislead children and defile cultural heritage. Language Log is on the story, and discusses the (extremely plausible) theory that this is part of a crackdown on people who use puns to get around censorship. … [Link]

Language Log » Today's headline harvest

Tuesday 9 December 11:31:37 UTC 2014

"Blindfold sex knife attack ex-wife jailed for murder attempt", BBC News 12/8/2014 — Although the five-noun pile-up doesn't give us any syntactic help, the facts are more or less what you'd guess by putting all the words on the table and making up a story about them: A woman who tried to murder her ex-husband after blindfolding him following sex … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Child of Divorce

Tuesday 9 December 8:15:10 UTC 2014

1. When two of your friends who were previously dating break-up, you attempt to maintain your friendship with both of them without pissing off either of them. 2. When two of your friends have a one-night stand, and you are in the middle of the fallout John: I heard Carter and Jane broke up. That sucks James: Yeah. They're both … [Link]

Language Log » Bavarian Rhapsody

Tuesday 9 December 5:03:22 UTC 2014

"La Bavière veut imposer aux étrangers de parler allemand, même « en famille »" Le Monde (12/7/14) L'Union chrétienne-sociale (CSU) qui dirige la Bavière depuis des décennies veut empêcher les étrangers de parler une autre langue que l'allemand, même en famille…. C'est d'autant plus risible que les Bavarois eux-mêmes utilisent un allemand bien éloigné des standards officiels et parfois même … [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.