John Gordon Ross

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 » Nazi Goring

Tuesday 16 June 22:05:10 UTC 2015

Menu from a restaurant on Wudaoying Hutong 五道营胡同 near Yonghe Gong 雍和宫 (Lama Temple) that left James Bradbury completely baffled last summer: Although several of the items visible on the menu are quirky or quaint, none can match this one: Yìndùníxīyà chǎofàn 印度尼西亚炒饭 ("Indonesian fried rice") In Indonesian and Malay, nasi goreng simply means "fried rice". Q.E.D. [Link]

Language Log » Gradulation

Tuesday 16 June 21:25:55 UTC 2015

From today's For Better or For Worse, a seasonal eggcorn: [Link]

Omniglot blog » How to you?

Tuesday 16 June 16:39:51 UTC 2015

An interesting structure that came up in the Russian lesson I worked on today is Как тебе …? (Kak tebe …) or literally “How to you …”), which means “What do you think of …?”. The example in the lesson is Ну, как тебе пельмени? (Nu, kak tebe pel’meni?), which means “So, what do you think of pelmeni*?”. The reply … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Sphincter trembles

Tuesday 16 June 7:48:49 UTC 2015

Fear of relaxing the sphincter after a few days without a poo Had my morning coffee with my partner this morning and got a case of the sphincter trembles, sat there smiling with fear of how this would play out. [Link]

Language Log » Reality v. Brooks

Tuesday 16 June 2:34:47 UTC 2015

David Zweig, "The facts vs. David Brooks: Startling inaccuracies raise questions about his latest book", Salon 6/15/2015 ("Factual discrepancies in the NYT columnist's new book raise some alarming questions about his research & methods"): For at least the past four years David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, TV pundit, bestselling author and lecture-circuit thought leader, has been publicly talking … [Link]

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