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 » Awful book, so I bought it

Saturday 21 March 23:44:16 UTC 2015

A long time ago (it was 2010, but so much has happened since then) I noted here that Greg Mankiw recommended to his Harvard economics students not just the little book I hate so much (The Elements of Style), but also William Zinsser's book On Writing Well. About the latter, I said this: I actually don't know much about Zinsser's … [Link]

languagehat.com » Rebec.

Saturday 21 March 21:25:44 UTC 2015

It’s time for another poll on the theme “how do you say this not-often-said word?” (Cf. re and the surprising pace ["Looking over the thread again, I am freshly astonished at how few people (only one or two, apparently) pronounce it the way I do, which I had foolishly thought was common if not universal"].) The rebec, as the Wikipedia … [Link]

Language Log » Schlump season

Saturday 21 March 18:18:01 UTC 2015

When I was a student at Dartmouth (1961-1965), from around mid-December to mid-March, we had roughly three feet of snow on the ground much of the time, but then came the big melt, and we called it the "schlump" season. The paths across campus were so muddy that the buildings and grounds crew placed "duck boards" on the ground for … [Link]

Language Log » Coherence award for Stephen King

Saturday 21 March 11:49:00 UTC 2015

Jan Freeman, "Stephen King scores a grammar win", Throw Grammar from the Train, 3/20/2015: Stephen King, novelist and resident of Maine and (sensible man!) Florida, has refuted the Maine governor’s claim that King had left the state to escape oppressive taxes. "Governor LePage is full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green," the best-selling author told a local … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » tip of my thumb

Saturday 21 March 7:30:00 UTC 2015

Just about to hit send on a text message when you think better of it and stop It was on the tip of my thumb to tell my mom how I felt about her new boyfriend [Link]

languagehat.com » Place Names in Jamaica.

Saturday 21 March 0:15:52 UTC 2015

The National Library of Jamaica has various interesting stuff on its website, notably including Place Names in Jamaica; I would treat the etymologies with a grain of salt, but they’re fun to read: “Danks” in Clarendon, was the name given to a property Sir Henry Morgan deeded to his German wife, who said, “danke”, meaning “thanks”. “Save Rent” in Westmoreland, … [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.