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 » Beds that lie
The other day I noticed the word gwlau on a sign outside a furniture shop. It’s a Welsh word I hadn’t seen or heard before, but from the context I worked out that it meant ‘beds’. The sign also included the words gwlau soffa (sofa beds). As I hadn’t come across this plural form of gwely [ˈɡwɛlɨ/ˈɡweːli] (bed) before, I … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » maintenance strokes
What a man does to maintain his erection, usually while waiting for more porn to load or doing something else. I was doing maintenance strokes with porn running in the background while browsing 4chan.
[Link]
languagehat.com » Another Large Pearl.
The other day I posted about Tsvetaeva’s poem «Отмыкала ларец железный…» [I unlocked the iron casket]; I’ve just come to one she wrote a couple of months later, «На крыльцо выхожу — слушаю…», that uses so much of the same imagery I can’t resist posting a rough translation so anyone interested can compare and contrast: I go out onto the … [Link]
Language Log » He's still waiting
From Francois Lang: Attached is a photo of a sign in the washroom at Heckman's Deli in Bethesda, MD I kept waiting for all the employees to wash my hands. I even asked. But nothing. Maybe it was something I said? 
In another example of fun with pronouns and implicit subjects, my university's front page currently features this captioned image: … [Link]
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