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

Omniglot blog » Dystopias and Utopias

Tuesday 19 January 15:45:54 UTC 2016

Why is it that so many films and novels set in the future are dystopian? I thought about this after watching The Hunger Games last night, and tried to think of any stories of utopian futures. The only films I could think featuring non-dystopian futures of were Back to the Future II and Bicentennial Man. Can you think of any … [Link]

Language Log » How to turn one out of five into three out of four

Tuesday 19 January 15:24:30 UTC 2016

Towards the end of last year, there was a bit of a fuss in the UK about the role of alcohol in hospital costs. Thus Sarah Knapton, "Three in four people in A&E at weekend are there because of alcohol: 70 per cent of people are admitted to emergency units at the weekend as a result of drinking", The Telegraph 12/21/2015 … [Link]

Language Log » Chinese proverbs

Tuesday 19 January 13:16:42 UTC 2016

A frequent topic of our Language Log posts has been about how best to learn Chinese, e.g.: "How to learn to read Chinese " (5/25/08) "How to learn Chinese and Japanese " (2/17/14) "The future of Chinese language learning is now " (4/5/14) Two things I have stressed: 1. take advantage of properly parsed Pinyin or other phonetic annotation and … [Link]

Language Log » What are the chances of sustaining life at the Sydney Opera House?

Tuesday 19 January 11:09:16 UTC 2016

Stephen Bullon sent a link to an article in the Guardian — Ian Sample, "Most threats to humans come from science and technology, warns Hawking", 1/18/2016 — and pointed to a picture caption that reads "Stephen Hawking reflects on the Earth’s chances of sustaining life at the Sydney Opera House / earlier last year". Stephen's comment: Seems to me that … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » dick chips

Tuesday 19 January 8:30:00 UTC 2016

dikchip -noun Chips that have been contaminated by someone who puts their hand in the bag after going to the bathroom, WITHOUT washing their hands. Stay away from the Cheetos, unless you like dick chips! [Link]

languagehat.com » Sheog.

Tuesday 19 January 1:14:44 UTC 2016

I finished David Mitchell’s wonderful Cloud Atlas , and I was so taken with it I immediately started rereading his first novel, Ghostwritten , which my brother gave me a decade or more ago and I devoured just as eagerly. I don’t have anything special to say about Cloud Atlas except that it’s a heck of a read (warning: it does get … [Link]

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