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 » Double crash blossom

Monday 5 January 18:50:51 UTC 2015

Jonathan Falk writes: I rarely get an email where my first two interpretations of the subject line [in this case, "AYA Burns Supper at Mory's"] are wrong. The first, obvious interpretation is that the Association of Yale Alumni for some reason was cooking the meal at Mory’s and they weren’t very good at it. My second interpretation was that they … [Link]

languagehat.com » How Old Is Mike?

Monday 5 January 17:30:26 UTC 2015

No, no, not the guy you’re thinking of — the nickname Mike. Michael Peverett writes me: I’m reading the opening chapters of Sir Walter Scott’s Kenilworth (1821). This is a historical novel that takes place some time in the second half of the sixteenth-century in England. One of the characters who turns up at Giles Gosling’s comfortable country inn The … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Pretending to speak a language

Monday 5 January 16:43:02 UTC 2015

In E. F. Benson’s book, Queen Lucia, two of the characters, Lucia and Georgie, speak bits of Italian to each other, which leads their friends to believe that they speak the language fluently, and impresses them, which is the point. When an Italian gentleman visits their village it soon emerges that Lucia and Georgie are unable to engage in conversation … [Link]

Language Log » Dropping the H bomb

Monday 5 January 13:05:29 UTC 2015

Sue Dunum, "Canadians Using 'Harper' as a Swear Word — 'Go Harper Yourself'", The Lapine 7/1/2014: MONTREAL — The CBC is reporting today on a growing social media trend for Canadians to use Prime Minister Harper’s name as a cuss word. “Harper is being used as the new F Bomb,” CBC analyst Claude Perrault told news anchor Peter Mansbridge this … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Sadghetti

Monday 5 January 9:00:00 UTC 2015

When one eats spaghetti all alone, while also being sad and depressed "How was dinner last night?" "I had sadghetti….." [Link]

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