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 » Words for Porridge in Bantuphone Africa.
Birgit Ricquier’s “The History of Porridge in Bantuphone Africa, with Words as Main Ingredients” (from Afriques 5 [2014], “Manger et boire en Afrique avant le XXe siècle”) is the kind of word-centric historical investigation I love; I’ll quote a few bits to whet your appetite. From the introduction: Porridge as a mash is mostly prepared in West and Central Africa. … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » confabulation, confab, fable
Confabulation is a word with two meanings. It can mean simply a conversation, formed from the Latin con (together) + fabulor (to speak, talk). This sense appears in the mid fifteenth century. By the early seventeenth century it had become a verb, to confabulate meaning to converse or talk. And confabulation was clipped to confab by the beginning of the … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » fable
See confabulation, confab, fable. [Link]
Language Log » Resisting reunification
Quick! How do you parse this headline? “Resisting reunification by force to get Taiwan nowhere: mainland spokesperson” (Xinhua, 5/25/17) Now read the first sentence of the article: A Chinese mainland spokesperson warned Thursday that the Taiwan administration’s attempt to resist reunification by the use of force will get the island nowhere. Is that what you thought it meant? But wait! … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » break green
To share cannabis with friends or strangers I like to break green with friends and then explore a museum together.
[Link]
languagehat.com » Denys Johnson-Davies, RIP.
The name Denys Johnson-Davies sounded vaguely familiar to me, and it turned out he’s translated a number of Arabic novels I own or have read; he died a couple of days ago, and Arabic Literature (in English) has a nice post on eleven books he wrote or translated. The first is his 2006 Memories of a Life in Translation: A … [Link]
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