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 » Uzan uthise.
I generally find lists of “untranslatable” words irritating; they tend to consist of variations on “comfortable” and “longing” plus a few implausible items alleged to mean, say, “the sensation of dipping your pinky finger into a pond freshly dappled by rain.” Like “funny things my students write in their papers,” you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all. But Shashank Bhargava … [Link]
Language Log » Trumpchi, the car
Now comes news of a Chinese car with an unusual name that is aiming to enter the American market: "China to Export Trumpchi Cars to U.S., Maybe With a New Name", by Keith Bradsher, NYT (11/17/17). GUANGZHOU, China — The cars are called Trumpchi (though their Chinese maker insists the name is just a coincidence). Various models of Trumpchi cars … [Link]
Language Log » Sex with Senator Bob Taft?
Last Friday, Bill O'Neill decided to "speak up on the behalf of all heterosexual males" by posting this on Facebook: 
Since O'Neill is a justice of the Ohio State Supreme Court, and a declared candidate for governor of Ohio, this occasioned a certain amount of commentary. Since this is Language Log and not Patriarchy Discussion Log, I'll focus on the … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken? [Link]
Language Log » "Notes to the financial statements"
From Jenny Chu: You might be amused by this latest edition of Google Translate's ability to transform meaningless character sequences into spoken-word poetry, discovered by my young son. It is all of the Vietnamese characters, in order of their appearance on the character map, with no spaces. Moreover, if you add all of the other non-diacritic characters on the keyboard, … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » The Floor is Lava
1. A multiplayer game in which one person yells, "The floor is lava!" and all other players must comply and find higher ground to get to. Anywhere but the floor is safe and if players stay on the floor, then they are painfully burned to death. The floor becomes safe only when the player that called "lava" recalls that the … [Link]
languagehat.com » Bad Lucky Goat.
Joe Parkin Daniels writes for the Guardian about an intriguing new movie: Bad Lucky Goat is the first film ever written and produced in San Andres-Providencia creole, the distinct variant of Caribbean English spoken on Providence and its larger sister island, San Andres. The movie – which tells the story of a brother and sister who accidentally kill a goat … [Link]
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