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 » Nous sommes Charlie

Friday 9 January 15:16:54 UTC 2015

jesuischarlie Should publishing a cartoon representation of the prophet Mohammed be punishable by death? After the massacre of magazine staff by lunatic Islamist murderers that took place in Paris two days ago, many who think the answer is "No" have begun displaying buttons or placards saying Je suis Charlie. I'd wear one myself if I could get one. The obvious allusion … [Link]

Language Log » Why definiteness is decreasing, part 1

Friday 9 January 13:11:56 UTC 2015

I ended yesterday's post ("Decreasing Definiteness") with a promise to say more about why the frequency of the has decreased so much over the past century or so, and this morning's post will start to redeem that promise. As several commenters observed, there are probably several different things going on here. But I think that one relevant factor is decreasing … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » To Be Honest

Friday 9 January 9:00:00 UTC 2015

TBH spelled out To Be Honest ur really really pretty and ummmm…. I think in fourth grade I said hi to u once [Link]

languagehat.com » The OED in Two Minutes.

Friday 9 January 1:15:42 UTC 2015

The OED has created an amazing feature: Each data point shown here represents the first recorded use of a word in English, positioned according to the language from which the word was borrowed. The size of the data point indicates the frequency of the word: larger bubbles for higher-frequency words, smaller bubbles for lower-frequency words. The progress bar at the … [Link]

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