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 » With No Pointless Weeping.
I’ve been haunted by this poem, written by Marina Tsvetaeva in October 1916, ever since I read it; I mutter it to myself as I’m drifting off to sleep, and phrases from it keep bubbling up into my consciousness. So, since translating Tsvetaeva isn’t quite as impossible as translating Pasternak, I thought I’d try to bring into English at least … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Neither fur nor feather
Today I came across an interesting Russian idiom in the book I’m reading (Moon Seed, by Stephen Baxter): Ни пуха, ни пера (Ni púkha, ni perá). It means literally “neither fur nor feather” and is used to wish someone good luck. The phrase was originally used by Russian hunters in a sarcastic/ironic way. The feathers referred to birds, and the … [Link]
Language Log » "Cyber-Enabled Bionic Organisms"?
One of the many interesting talks next week at Penn will be one by Alper Bozkurt, on the “Internet of Bionic Things: Cyber-Enabled Bionic Organisms for Environmental Sensing". His abstract: The present day technology falls short in offering autonomous mobile robots that can function effectively and efficiently under unknown and dynamic environmental conditions. Insects and canines, on the other hand, … [Link]
Language Log » The silence of Language Log
Our much-valued readers will all be wondering why Language Log has so far said nothing about the result of the US presidential election. That is an understandable question. Most of the newspapers seem to have managed to get out editions for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; but not us. The answer is that we are in the position of Jack Benny … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Pulling An America
Doing something very stupid, like when America voted for Trump to be the president. Dude you are pulling an America, why would going down that halfpipe on skis be a good idea?
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