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 » Drunk [on] US dollars
On June 9, 2012, Clement Larrive wrote: I stumbled upon this sign while on a trip from Wuhan, Hubei to Shanghai. Do you have any idea about what it really means ? 
I apologize for letting this interesting query get lost in my bloated inbox for such an unconscionably long time, but am very happy that — by chance on … [Link]
languagehat.com » Wight-wapping.
I was looking up something else in my American Heritage Dictionary when my eye fell on this entry: wight2 (wīt) adj. Archaic Valorous; brave. [Middle English < Old Norse vīgt, neuter of vīgr, able to fight; see weik-3 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] My first thought was “That’s odd, I’ve never heard of such a word.” Immediately following came the thought “Why is such an odd word in the AHD? How did it survive the culling that takes place for every new edition?” I will probably never get an answer to that question (I’m guessing some highly placed editor simply liked the word and couldn’t bear to let it go), but of course I went straight to the OED (entry from 1924), where the earliest citations are from c1275 (▸?a1200) (Laȝamon Brut l. 10658 “Fif and twenti þusend. whitere monnen”) and the latest is from 1858 (W. Morris Def. Guenevere 108 “They ought to sing of him who was as wight As Launcelot or Wade”), by which time I presume it was long out of living use. At any rate, I probably wouldn’t have posted about it if I hadn’t scrolled to the end of the entry and found this: wight-wapping adj. [wap v.1] moving rapidly, or characterized by such movement. 1830 Scott Ayrshire Trag. i. 1, The weaver shall find room At the wight-wapping loom. “Wight-wapping”: what a wonderful word! It sounds like something Bugs Bunny Elmer Fudd would say. Bring it back, say I—we’ll get ’em all back! > [Link]
Language Log » So WHAT rolls to the UK again?
Initially baffled by this BBC headline. Thought "ship" was a noun and "rolls" a verb. pic.twitter.com/otnLWElvui — Ralph Harrington (@ralphharrington) October 3, 2015 [h/t Ian Preston] [Link]
World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Gibberish
A story connects 'gibberish' with an ancient Arabic writer. [Link]
World Wide Words: Updates » New online: You snowing me?
It's not the Inuit who have lots of words for snow but the Scots and English. [Link]
World Wide Words: Updates » New online: Chi-ike
London costermoners' slang of the 1800, 'chi-ike' survives only in the memories of older people. [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » lactcident
Accidental explosive diarrhea caused by consuming a dairy product by a lactose intolerant person. – Yo Bob, where did you go? We searched everywhere for you at the party. – I had to change my pants man, had a little lactcident after downing two White Russians.
[Link]
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