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
Wordorigins.org » anaconda
The name of the giant constrictor snake of South America is most likely from the Sinhalese henakaňdayā, a Sri Lankan name for a whip snake (from hena = lightning + kaňda = stem). How the name shifted from a snake in South Asia to one in South America is the story of a series of errors and misappellations. [Link]
Language Log » Turkish animal sounds
This is too cool not to share: Sounds That Animals Make Hayvan Sesleri Of the 20 animals represented in Turkish and English (with both writing and audio clips), my favorite is this one: Hindiler guruldar; "glu glu" diye bağırırlar. Turkeys gobble; they go, "Gobble, gobble." Note that the construction for quoting animal noises in English is to precede the animal … [Link]
Language Log » (Not) too P to Q
Peter Howard sent in a listicle at NotAlwaysRight, "10 scams we're not too stupid to fall for", which describes ways that customers will try to fool cashiers, for example by switching price labels: "it doesn’t take a genius to realise that a $50 bottle of liquor would not be mislabeled as $0.99 cheese-balls in any universe." Peter observes that the … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? [Link]
Language Log » Obama and the end of the queue
Over the past few days the British media (newspapers and BBC news programs) have been talking about a crucially linguistic argument that President Obama is being manipulated, and literally told what to say, by the UK prime minister's office. (Links seem superfluous: the Google News UK edition will give you thousands of references.) The evidence comes from a single choice … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » dirty dick hands
When a guy finishes using a urinal and, zero fucks given, exits the bathroom without washing his hands. Abbreviation: DDH I saw Bob walk out of the bathroom then high-five Tim with his dirty dick hands .
[Link]
Language Log » Poem or list of band names?
A few days ago, we looked at a propaganda poster in Beijing: "'Dangerous love'" (4/19/16). In continuing research on this poster, I discovered that at one site where it was pasted on the wall, there was an enigmatic sequence of lines on another piece of paper pasted on the wall just to the right of the 16-panel poster that the … [Link]
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