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

languagehat.com » The Sephardic Bibliophile of Brooklyn.

Thursday 21 May 23:53:01 UTC 2015

I’m a sucker for bookstore pieces, and Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote a good one for the Forward that begins: On a nondescript street of brick row houses, nestled between an insurance office and a computer store, in an out of the way corner of Brooklyn known as Marine Park that is not on any subway lines, lies a small storefront. From … [Link]

Language Log » Illustrated translations of the untranslatable

Thursday 21 May 8:30:39 UTC 2015

"Beautiful Illustrations of Words with No English Equivalent",Twisted Sifter 5/16/2015. As usual, many of the translations seem to be somewhat more specifically evocative than the words they translate. Thus Spanish duende is rendered as "The mysterious power that a work of art has to deeply move a person", whereas the WordReference dictionary gives simply "spirit, magical creature; elf, imp, goblin; … [Link]

Language Log » Snowclone of the week

Thursday 21 May 8:05:55 UTC 2015

Melissa Holbrook Pierson, "What Is Your Dog Telling You? They may not use words, but dogs say a lot more than we realize with their body language", WSJ 5/11/2015: For the same reason that Eskimos purportedly have 50 different words for snow, dogs have a vast repertoire of gestures for appeasement and propitiation. The Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas has … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » chicken coop

Thursday 21 May 7:00:00 UTC 2015

The chicken coop is the house or apartment where you keep all the drugs. (Mainly kilos of cocaine aka "chickens")You never sleep at the chicken coop or do business there. Noone should know where your chicken coop is except for you.We call it a chicken coop because that's where you go to lay your chickens down to sleep at night. … [Link]

languagehat.com » Leaving the Myth Behind.

Thursday 21 May 0:33:41 UTC 2015

My apologies to those of you who either subscribe to Chomskyan linguistics or aren’t interested in it, but I still bear the scars of attempted brainwashing from my time in grad school four decades ago, and I can never get enough of attacks on the Great Man and his Theory (or, more accurately, Theories). Herewith, for those who are interested, … [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.