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 » Gleann Cholm Cille
I’m currently in Glencolumbcille (Gleann Cholm Cille) in Donegal in the north west of Ireland brushing up my Irish. Next weekend I’ll be in Dún Laoghaire for the Ukulele Hooley, Ireland’s national ukulele festival. So far I’ve spoken plenty of Irish, and also some Welsh, Japanese and French, and a bit of English. [Link]
languagehat.com » Ten “Lost” Books.
Lucy Scholes’ BBC list of “hidden literary gems” starts with Teffi’s Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea, which won my heart immediately; the second entry is by Madeleine Bourdouxhe, of whom I’d never heard and of whom my immediate question was “how do you pronounce that?” Investigation suggests that the last two letters are decorative and it’s /burduks/ [as … [Link]
Language Log » Jones and Palin on noun-pile headlines
From "Dr. Fegg's Encyclopedia of All World Knowledge", by Terry Jones and Michael Palin: 
[h/t Don Porges] [Link]
Language Log » You know, I mean
Almost a decade ago, Matt Hutson asked me whether "there are underlying personality differences between people who punctuate (litter?) their speech with 'you know' versus those who use 'I mean' more frequently" ("I mean, you know", 8/19/2007). I wasn't able to offer any insight into personality associations, but looking in the LDC conversational speech corpus, I did find some associations … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Gas Ends
Bay area term meaning to put money down on someone else's gas. Someone's portion of gas money. "If you take me there I will give you gas ends.""Do you have gas ends for the trip?" "I have ends on gas!"
[Link]
languagehat.com » Love in Translation.
When I saw Lauren Collins’ “personal history” piece “Love in Translation” (“Learning about culture, communication, and intimacy in my husband’s native French”), I was of course intrigued, but when I started it I realized that it presumed more interest in her relationship with her husband than I could muster up, and much of the stuff about the wild and wacky … [Link]
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