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 » Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English.

Wednesday 30 March 19:04:04 UTC 2016

I just discovered by accident something I’m very glad to know exists, the Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English . At $356.92, it’s not going to be showing up on my bookshelves, but Google Books and Amazon’s Look Inside the Book will allow me to use it to some extent, and of course in cases of desperation there’s always the library. … [Link]

languagehat.com » Da Qin.

Wednesday 30 March 14:07:11 UTC 2016

Over at Wordorigins.org, OP Tipping quotes Silk Road Seattle’s page “The Kingdom of Da Qin 大秦 (the Roman Empire)“: Da Qin 大秦 [Ta Ch’in] = Rome or Roman territory, depending on the context. The use of such a name (literally, ‘Great Qin’ = Great China) for a foreign state probably reflects the common process of mythologizing distant and unfamiliar cultures. … [Link]

Language Log » More sweary maps from Stan Carey

Wednesday 30 March 11:54:11 UTC 2016

Stan Carey, "Sweary maps 2: Swear harder", Strong Language (A Sweary Blog About Swearing), 3/22/2016: You may remember Jack Grieve’s swear maps of the USA. Now he has a nifty new web app called Word Mapper that lets anyone with an internet connection make use of the raw data behind those maps. Being a mature grown-up, I put on my … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Half-Day Tony

Wednesday 30 March 7:00:00 UTC 2016

A person who starts a new job and quits after only half a day. Typically goes to lunch, never to return. "Where's the new guy? Didn't he go to lunch… like 2 hours ago?" "Uh ohh, he's not coming back is he? Don't tell me another one's done a half-day Tony?" "Fuck." [Link]

languagehat.com » Viktor.

Wednesday 30 March 1:13:28 UTC 2016

I’ve finished Elena Veltman’s short novel Виктор [Viktor], which surprised me by being a huge advance on “Oksana” (which I wrote about here). It’s one of those works that makes me glad I embarked on my project of reading as much early Russian literature as I could, and frustrated at the unjust workings of literary history and canon formation. It … [Link]

Archive