John Gordon Ross

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 » Comrades, "hike up your skirts for a hard shag"

Sunday 23 July 23:24:58 UTC 2017

President Xi Jinping is fond of calling on the Chinese people to "roll up our sleeves and work hard" (lū qǐ xiùzǐ jiāyóu gàn 撸起袖子加油干 / 擼起袖子加油幹). No sooner had Xi uttered this stirring pronouncement in a nationwide address at the turn of the year (2016-17) than it became a viral meme (here and here) that has inspired countless signs, … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » sauna bomb

Sunday 23 July 7:30:00 UTC 2017

Running into a sauna naked and pooping on the heat source I was having a relaxing schvitz when Trump totally sauna bombed and blamed it on Obama. [Link]

Omniglot blog » Language quiz

Sunday 23 July 5:00:47 UTC 2017

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

Language Log » Unmasking Slurs

Sunday 23 July 1:36:18 UTC 2017

I'm sympathetic to many of the arguments offered in a guest post by Robert Henderson, Peter Klecha, and Eric McCready (HK&M) in response to Geoff Pullum's post on "nigger in the woodpile," no doubt because they are sympathetic to some of the things I said in my reply to Geoff. But I have to object when they scold me for … [Link]

languagehat.com » Up to Snuff.

Sunday 23 July 1:14:33 UTC 2017

I wondered about the phrase “up to snuff,” so I looked it up. Turns out it didn’t always mean “meeting the required standard,” as it does now; Gary Martin tells us: In 1811, the English playwright John Poole wrote Hamlet Travestie, a parody of Shakespeare, in the style of Doctor Johnson and George Steevens, which included the expression. “He knows … [Link]

Archive