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

languagehat.com » Multistory Profanity.

Thursday 20 August 18:46:32 UTC 2015

Many years ago I learned from Edward Topol about the Russian system of classifying mat, or profanity, according to the number of layers, or stories/storeys, it contains, the more elaborate having three or even seven levels; I don’t think I’d ever encountered this system in literary use before, but reading Alexander Serafimovich‘s classic of Soviet Civil War literature, «Железный поток» … [Link]

Language Log » Devilishly difficult "dialect"

Thursday 20 August 16:39:28 UTC 2015

Are some languages innately more difficult than others? In "Difficult languages" (1/2/10), Bill Poser addressed this question from various angles. I've heard it said that Georgian is incredibly difficult because it possesses an "impossible" verbal system, has ergativity and other features that make for "interesting" learning, and so forth. Yet, in comparison with some of the North Caucasian languages (whose … [Link]

Language Log » What does "vocal fry" mean?

Thursday 20 August 10:48:19 UTC 2015

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, "LOL Vocal Fry Rules U R All Dumb", Jezebel 7/30/2015: This week, in shit-hot stuff happening on the internet, once-great feminist pundit Naomi Wolf wrote a column about how vocal fry is Keeping Women Down, and then other women across the internet rebutted her, rightly positing that when your dads bitch about the way you talk it’s … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » emoji tennis

Thursday 20 August 7:00:00 UTC 2015

Texting nothing but emojis back and forth between a friend or partner. Can sometimes be for humour or usually because you're bored. Boy: let's play emoji tennis Girl: ok Boy: 🍑 Girl: 😐 Boy: 😍😘❓ Girl: 😘😉 Boy: 😊😉 [Link]

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