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 » Studies in Slang, VII.
Searching for something else, I happened on the complete online text (pdf) of Barry A. Popik and Gerald Leonard Cohen, Studies in Slang, VII (2006). Anyone interested in slang will want to check it out; a few article titles picked at random: POPIK: Tin Pan Alley origin is explained in a 1903 newspaper article COHEN: To need hair of the … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » porch dog
A person who frequently attacks others in speech or writing, but who poses no intellectual threat whatsoever. The motivation of this type of person can usually be accurately construed as a desire to be obnoxious and offensive. Origin: The phrase "porch dog" is used to refer to dogs that sit on front porches and bark (vigorously and fruitlessly) at passersby, … [Link]
Language Log » Hybrid writing in East Village, New York
Tal Kedem saw this sign the other day while walking with his son to a local playground. It's for a newly opened restaurant on 9th street in New York's East Village. 
They have written 木hursday, where "T" is replaced by "木". That's pronounced "mù" and means "wood; timber; tree"). Aside from the clever blend of scripts, I can't think of … [Link]
languagehat.com » A Curious Bilingual Edition.
Esther Allen writes about the Argentine writer Antonio Di Benedetto and his 1956 novel Zama, which she translated; both he and it sound fascinating and well worth investigating, and I recommend the whole essay, but I’ll feature a couple of bits of particular LH interest. First, an odd edition: Perhaps Di Benedetto imagined he could leapfrog Buenos Aires, going directly … [Link]
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