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 » Annals of targeted advertising

Sunday 23 April 18:18:36 UTC 2017

I'm used to getting spammed about every plausibly product-related web search I do. But I'm at a loss to understand what triggered an email this morning with the Subject line "Trending Just For You: Be Yourself: A Journal for Catholic Girls". The body of the message: [Link]

Language Log » Active seeming: dumb grammar fetishism yet again

Sunday 23 April 9:24:16 UTC 2017

Last January 21 The Economist actually printed a letter I wrote pointing out that how wirelessly to hack a car was a ridiculous way to say "how to wirelessly hack a car," and resulted from a perverted and dimwitted obeisance to a zombie rule. But did they actually listen, and think about changing their ways? They did not. I have … [Link]

Language Log » Or the arbitrary cat, horse, or pig

Sunday 23 April 8:32:24 UTC 2017

I think Mark Liberman may have been concerned that perhaps my post "Pronominal reference to the arbitrary dog" hinted at being tempted toward the Recency Illusion. Not true, of course: even when surprised by some point of usage that I notice, I never conclude I must therefore be the first to have encountered it. On encountering the use of singular … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Language quiz

Sunday 23 April 8:30:27 UTC 2017

Language quiz image Here’s a recording of in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Down in the Trumps

Sunday 23 April 7:30:00 UTC 2017

The feeling of depression and sense of impending doom that sweeps through a person when they think about how Donald Trump is fucking up the world. Nick has been Down in the Trumps ever since he watched that documentary about Donald Trump on TV. [Link]

languagehat.com » Some Hebrew Links.

Sunday 23 April 3:28:49 UTC 2017

1) Balashon investigates the word charoset חרסת, “a condiment made of fruits and spices with wine and sugar, used to sweeten the bitter herbs eaten on Passover night.” He begins with the seemingly “obvious and convincing” etymology given by Klein, “Probably formed from חרס cheres (=clay), in allusion to its claylike color,” and comes up with some interesting material: Ronnie … [Link]

Language Log » Long kanji readings

Sunday 23 April 2:43:32 UTC 2017

SoraNews24 (4/20/17) has an article by Scott Wilson titled "W.T.F. Japan: Top 5 kanji with the longest readings【Weird Top Five】 ". Before attempting to read and critique this article, we need to familiarize ourselves with some basic terms and concepts about the modern Japanese writing system. It basically consists of thousands of kanji (Chinese characters) and kana (a syllabary of … [Link]

Language Log » The sphere of the sphere is the sphere of the sphere

Sunday 23 April 0:28:22 UTC 2017

In a comment on "Electric Sheep", Tim wrote: Just want to share a little Google Translate poetry resulting from drumming my fingers on the keyboard while set to Thai: There are six sparks in the sky, each with six spheres. The sphere of the sphere is the sphere of the sphere. I want to preserve this gem for posterity (i.e. … [Link]

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