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 » Yet again on the mystery of the national spelling bee

Monday 5 June 16:07:59 UTC 2017

This year’s champion, Ananya Vinay, is a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Fresno, California. The runner-up, Rohan Rajeev, is a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Edmond, Oklahoma. One of the co-champions from last year, Nihar Janga of Austin, Texas, was 11 and the other, Jairam Hathwar, of Painted Post, N.Y., was 13. Speaking of youthfulness, this year home-schooled Edith Fuller of Tulsa, Oklahoma was … [Link]

Language Log » Blizzard Challenge: Listeners wanted

Monday 5 June 11:42:28 UTC 2017

From Simon King: We need your help with the Blizzard Challenge listening test for 2017. Please take part yourself, and encourage your colleagues and students too. Feel free to forward this message to your local mailing lists. Speech Experts (you decide if you are one!) take part here. Everyone else, do it here. It’s a fun test – you get … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » procaffination

Monday 5 June 7:00:00 UTC 2017

The inability to make a decision until you've had a cup of coffee. Make me a coffe I'm flawed by procaffination today. [Link]

languagehat.com » Why Arkansas?

Monday 5 June 0:23:51 UTC 2017

The following question was posted on the reddit AskHistorians forum: The state of Arkansas was apparently originally known as the Territory of Arkansaw [sic]. Why would they have changed the spelling from Arkansaw to Arkansas despite the latter not resembling the name’s pronunciation? User ScallopOolong responded with a long comment beginning: George R. Stewart has a whole chapter on this … [Link]

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