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

languagehat.com » Shemagh.

Friday 31 March 22:58:15 UTC 2017

A MetaFilter post included a video on “how to wear a shemagh,” and I left a comment saying: In case anybody else is ignorant/curious, like me, it turns out a shemagh is what I knew as a keffiyeh; Wiktionary says it’s “British military use, from Arabic شْمَاغ (šmāḡ).” Which would explain why Yanks like me don’t know it. Another commenter … [Link]

Language Log » Sinological suffering

Friday 31 March 17:26:39 UTC 2017

Since I became a Sinologist in 1972, hardly a day has passed when I didn't spend an hour or two vainly searching for a character or expression in my vast arsenal of Chinese reference works. The frustration of not being able to find what I'm looking for is so agonizing that I sometimes simply have to scream at the writing … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » cranking the hog

Friday 31 March 7:00:00 UTC 2017

Masturbation, usually in a more aggressive manner. Hey man, I was cranking the hog last night and my roommate almost walked in. [Link]

languagehat.com » Novy Mir Online.

Friday 31 March 0:14:56 UTC 2017

Novy Mir, the famous Russian (ex-Soviet) monthly literary magazine that published so many works that are now classics, has been putting its archives online; I got the news via XIX век, where Erik says “as of now they have most of 1925-30, everything since mid-1993, and isolated issues in between.” I have a treasured collection of old issues with their … [Link]

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