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

Omniglot blog » sina toki ala toki e toki pona?

Tuesday 29 September 20:10:52 UTC 2015

Last week I started learning Toki Pona, the language consisting of just 120 words created by Sonja Lang in 2001. I’ve been thinking about giving it a try since the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin last year, when I went to talk about the language and met people who speak it, and Sonja herself. It’s an interesting language, and as the … [Link]

languagehat.com » Royal Language and Wayang.

Tuesday 29 September 13:33:10 UTC 2015

Normally I don’t bother reposting stuff from the Log because I assume most people who are interested in language blogs frequent both venues, but this post by Victor Mair is so full of goodies I can’t resist. First he quotes General MacArthur’s translator, George Kisaki, on the difficulty of interpreting for the emperor: The emperor spoke a whole different other … [Link]

Language Log » Royal language

Tuesday 29 September 12:15:18 UTC 2015

Anyone who has studied more than a year of Japanese will have a sense of the elaborate system of honorifics employed in the language. But there's a very high level of honorific speech that not even advanced students are required to learn, viz., the language used exclusively by the imperial family. Last month, there was an article in The Daily … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Jean Jam

Tuesday 29 September 7:00:00 UTC 2015

When jeans are way too tight on your junk. Limits mobility, decreases circulation, and potentially lowers sperm count. Tim: "These new jeans I just got are really cramming my junk when I try to move, Mike." Mike: "Sounds like you are getting jean jammed." [Link]

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