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 » An impressive moustache

Tuesday 29 March 22:44:02 UTC 2016

Alon Lichinsky sent in a link to this P.C. Hipsta comic: And a reminder of another attachment ambiguity joke: [Link]

Language Log » Down with vs. Up for: We have maps

Tuesday 29 March 19:41:28 UTC 2016

From Jack Grieve, in response to "Up (for) and down (with)", 3/17/2016: By request for Mark Liberman @LanguageLog: "Down with" vs. "Up for"…a rough North vs. South pattern pic.twitter.com/t4kfZLpi3v — Jack Grieve (@JWGrieve) March 29, 2016 [Link]

Omniglot blog » Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Tuesday 29 March 16:03:03 UTC 2016

This week I am doing a course in Scottish Gaelic songs at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye. While all the songs I’m learning are in Gaelic, the class it taught mainly in English, so I don’t get to speak much Gaelic in class. Outside class there are plenty of opportunities to speak Gaelic with … [Link]

Language Log » Semantic differential: Podium or lectern?

Tuesday 29 March 10:42:50 UTC 2016

Today's xkcd illustrates a technique pioneered by Bill Labov: Mouseover title: "BREAKING: Senator's bold pro-podium stand leads to primary challenge from prescriptivist base." In "The boundaries of words and their meanings" (from C-J. Bailey & R. Shuy, Eds., New Ways of Analyzing Variation in English, 1973), Bill used distinctions like cup/mug/bowl/vase or chair/stool to explore the role of form, function … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » I'm dying

Tuesday 29 March 7:00:00 UTC 2016

A term commonly used on the internet for when someone is laughing very hard or simply can't stop laughing. Oh my god I'm dying, rip me. That was so fucking funny. [Link]

Language Log » Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 5

Tuesday 29 March 1:25:14 UTC 2016

Previous posts in the series: "Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions" (3/8/16) "Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 2" (3/12/16) "Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 3" (3/16/16) "Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 4" (3/24/16) As mentioned before, the following post is not about a sword or other type of weapon per … [Link]

languagehat.com » Jalada Translation Issue 01.

Tuesday 29 March 0:45:41 UTC 2016

Jalada is “a pan-African writers’ collective,” and they have produced a fantastic online magazine consisting of translations of a single story by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (Gikuyu pronunciation [ᵑɡoɣe wa ðiɔŋɔ]), “The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright,” into English, Amharic, Dholuo, Kikamba, Lwisukha-Lwidakho, French, Arabic, Luganda, Kiswahili, Afrikaans, Hausa, Ikinyarwanda, Meru, Lingala, IsiZulu, Igbo, Ibibio, Somali, Sayyidka, XiTsonga, Nandi, … [Link]

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