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 » Disastrous ambiguity

Monday 22 June 19:18:58 UTC 2015

Talking of the possibly impending Grexit, what an unfortunate sentence The Economist chose to conclude its leader article on the ongoing Greek monetary crisis: This marriage is not worth saving at any price. A quirk of English syntax and semantics makes this radically ambiguous. First, it can be paraphrased by "Not at any price would this marriage be worth saving," … [Link]

Language Log » Multilingualism: personal and national

Monday 22 June 18:49:25 UTC 2015

I just returned from an excellent conference on multilingualism in China that was held at Göttingen, Germany: Language Diversity in the Sinophone World: Policies, effects, and tradition International Symposium Göttingen University 11 – 13 June 2015 So the idea of there being more than one language in a country, or of a single person freely speaking more than one language, … [Link]

languagehat.com » Gammawash and the Jacob Sannazars.

Monday 22 June 13:41:02 UTC 2015

Two minor mysteries I’m hoping some LH reader might be able to shed light on: 1) At Wordorigins.org, aldiboronti quotes from Beaumont and Fletcher’s Thierry and Theodoret, Act V, Scene 1, in which the following exchange occurs (4th Soldier is Welsh; you can see the context here): 4th Soldier: It is the welch must doo’t I see, comrade man of … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Hmyz and Hums

Monday 22 June 11:11:50 UTC 2015

I came across an interesting Czech word today – hmyz, which means “insect, ant, bug, creepy-crawly”. It appears in my Czech phrasebook in the sentence, “V našem pokoji je hmyz” (There are insects in our room). It sounds like the sounds insects make, but there are other words for hum in Czech – bzučet, vrčet, hučet (verbs); bzukot, šum, hukot … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » transoccupational

Monday 22 June 7:30:00 UTC 2015

When you relate more to an occupation not your own. Batman isn't a vigilante, he's just transoccupational. [Link]

Language Log » Grexicography

Monday 22 June 5:24:58 UTC 2015

Today is another stage in the Grexit crisis — the Greek banking system may collapse, creating a Graccident that pushes the situation over the Gredge without any party having actually made a decision. Then again, the relevant ministries and committees may find a way to kick the can down the road again — another Grextension — thereby keeping the crisis … [Link]

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