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 » Daylight(-)Saving Time
Julian Hook writes: The attached plot corroborates my vague recollections: a few decades ago many people spelled Daylight-Saving Time with a hyphen, but now almost nobody does. The hyphen makes sense by the same logic as the hyphens in other N-Ving compounds like man-eating and blood-curdling. (Those who would object that Daylight-Saving Time doesn’t actually save any daylight should consider … [Link]
Language Log » (South) Korea bashing
Following up on these two recent posts: "Hate" (3/8/17) "No Japanese, South Koreans, or dogs" (3/8/17) 
The Chinese characters above the photograph say: Wǒ shízài méi shénme Hánguó dōngxi kě zá de le, wǒ bǎ gébì xìng Hán de lǎotóu zòule yī dùn, zhīchí Zhōngguó 我实在没什么韩国东西可砸的了，我把隔壁姓韩的老头揍了一顿，支持中国 "I really didn't have any (South) Korean things left to smash, so I gave … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » loo
Loo, the British word for a lavatory or toilet is one of those words that has generated endless speculation and myth about its origin. While we don’t know for sure where the word comes from, we do have a pretty good guess. It’s most likely from the French lieu, meaning place. The English loo doesn’t make an unambiguous appearance until … [Link]
Language Log » Fluent disfluency
A couple of days ago, in "Mistakes", I noted that verbatim transcripts of spontaneous speech are often full of filled pauses, self-corrections, and other things that must be edited out in order to create what that commenter would count as a "coherent sentence". And this is true even for people who have risen far in the world on the basis … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Strand-up comedy
The way one's hair can look first thing in the morning, sticking straight up in all directions. When Bob woke up this morning, his hair looked like a strand-up comedy.
[Link]
Language Log » Rapaganda
The Chinese government has grown mildly addicted to the use of rap for disseminating propaganda. I'm going to call this new variety "rapaganda", but I am not the first to do so. The use of this portmanteau word might have started here: "Chinese Communist Party Modernizes its Message — With Rap-aganda" (China Real Time Report, WSJ, 12/29/15) WSJ's China Real … [Link]
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