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 » Hyperbolic scalar indifference

Tuesday 14 July 18:08:54 UTC 2015

From Larry Horn — Eliza Kennedy, I Take You, 2015 (p. 69): [narrator has just been asked by wedding planner to choose one of six identical-looking swatches] I look at her, then at Rose. “Ladies? To say that I do not give two shits about this vastly overestimates the value I place on shits.” They puzzle that one out for … [Link]

languagehat.com » As Had They Their Forebears.

Tuesday 14 July 16:17:20 UTC 2015

I’m reading Tales of Imperial Russia: The Life and Times of Sergei Witte, 1849-1915 , by Francis W. Wcislo, which is irritatingly written (e.g., frequently referring to late-nineteenth-century Russians as “Victorians”), though it presents a great deal of interesting material (e.g., the rich widow Anna Rodionovna Chernyshova, godmother to both Emperor Alexander I and Witte’s grandmother Elena Dolgorukaya-Fadeeva, allowed no men … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Schiehallion – Constant Storm Mountain

Tuesday 14 July 15:43:20 UTC 2015

I’m currently reading a fascinating book, Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey by Rachel Hewitt, and came across an interesting mountain name – Schehallion – which the author says that she was told means “constant storm” in Gaelic, a suitable name as the weather on the mountain is apparently notoriously bad. I thought this unlikely, but … [Link]

Language Log » New frontiers in multiple negation

Tuesday 14 July 12:10:23 UTC 2015

Dave Itzkoff, "Berkeley Breathed Publishes First New ‘Bloom County’ Strip Since 1989", 7/13/2015: [I]t was a surprise for comics fans to wake up on Monday and discover that Berkeley Breathed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator and artist of “Bloom County,” had revived that vintage 1980s strip on his Facebook page after a hiatus of more than 25 years (depending on how … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » a and r

Tuesday 14 July 7:30:00 UTC 2015

Assault and Robbery or Against persons and Robbery is category of crime. It's a lingual abbreviation used by police or law enforcement. – " I had a four man team for a big grab and lost one to smokies. I came looking to replace him. If you're still a badass! – " I don't do A and R, man. No … [Link]

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