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 » "Is a thing" antedated to 1783
In the comments on my post "When did 'a thing' become a thing", 4/18/2016,, James Barrett points us to a video from the Royal Society that includes the following passage from a letter, dated 1783, from one Eberhard Johann Schröter in St. Petersburg, addressed to Dr. Daniel Solander, an associate of Sir Joseph Banks: Your browser does not support the … [Link]
languagehat.com » Requiem Shark.
I’m rereading Moby Dick after a lapse of decades, and in the famous chapter “The Whiteness of the Whale” I was stopped by this passage: As for the white shark, the white gliding ghostliness of repose in that creature, when beheld in his ordinary moods, strangely tallies with the same quality in the Polar quadruped. This peculiarity is most vividly … [Link]
Language Log » Americanism
Here's an unexpected factoid from the transcripts of the 21 debates held so far in the current U.S. presidential campaign: Despite his "Make America Great Again" slogan, Donald Trump uses the words America and American almost 13 times less often than Bernie Sanders does. In the table below, the first number in each column is the number of times that … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Finna yack
When in absolute disgust one says "finna yack" meaning, I'm going to puke. Could also express disagreement or physical illness. Ex. Person 1: "That Cheeto you ate was on the ground"Person 2: "ew finna yack bro"
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Language Log » Character amnesia redux
This is a topic that we have frequently broached on Language Log: "Character Amnesia" (7/22/10) "Character amnesia revisited" (12/13/12) "Spelling bees and character amnesia" (8/7/13) "Character amnesia and the emergence of digraphia" (9/25/13) "Dumpling ingredients and character amnesia" (10/18/14) In several recent messages to me, Guy Almog has raised the issue once again. This is not unexpected for someone whose … [Link]
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