John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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Language Stuff

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

Language Log » Perineal agriculture?

Friday 3 February 19:46:55 UTC 2017

Jack Maloney sent in a link to a talk at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute about "Plant Soil Microbiomes in Perineal Agriculture": Switching from an annual agriculture system to a perineal agriculture system that most closely resembles natural prairies will include changes to the way we manage soil, the lifespan of the plants, and the diversity of the crops … [Link]

Language Log » "On notice," as meaningless as ever

Friday 3 February 17:07:23 UTC 2017

Donald Trump, conducting foreign policy by tweet, announced that "Iran has been formally PUT ON NOTICE for firing a ballistic missile." National Security Advisor Mike Flynn reiterated that point at a news conference, though press secretary Sean Spicer was unable to explain what "on notice" actually means in this context. Could be because in diplomacy, putting a country "on notice" … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Sweet dreams are made of snov

Friday 3 February 12:24:16 UTC 2017

Спокойной ночи и сладких снов (Good night and sweet dreams The most common way to say good night in Russian is спокойной ночи (spakóynay nóchi). Which is a contraction of the phrase Желаю тебе спокойной ночи (I wish you a quiet night). Спокойной is a form of спокойный, which means ‘calm, gentle, pacific, secure, sober, collected, cool, level, quiet, settled, tranquil, cosh, comfortable, immovable, peaceful, sedate, steady, reposeful, cool-headed, orderly, … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » cash me outside howbow dah

Friday 3 February 8:00:00 UTC 2017

On an episode of Dr. Phil, a "difficult" teenage daughter, addresses the crowd using the phrase, "Cash me outside dah."Basically, it means, come talk to me outside so that we can sort out our issues and potentially get into a physical fight. Person 1: "Bitch, you're so ugly."Person 2: "Me? Ugly? Cash me outside howbow dah?" [Link]

Language Log » The origins of graphic communication, pt. 2

Friday 3 February 5:54:51 UTC 2017

Annalee Newitz has a fascinating article on abstract Paleolithic notations in Ars Technica (2/1/2017): "38,000-year-old carving includes enigmatic 'punctuation' pattern: New finding suggests that paleolithic Europeans shared a common set of symbols." reporting on this paper: R. Bourrillon, R. White, E. Tartar, L. Chiotti, R. Mensan, A. Clark, J.-C. Castel, C. Cretin, T. Higham, A. Morala, S. Ranlett, M. Sisk, … [Link]

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