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

languagehat.com » Punt.

Friday 8 December 23:09:06 UTC 2017

There are a number of punts in English; I’m concerned here not with the flat-bottomed boat (from Latin pontō, from pons ‘bridge’) nor with the drop kick (perhaps a dialectal variant of bunt) nor yet the Irish pound, but rather with the betting term meaning ‘to stake against the bank’ (hence UK punter ‘gambler,’ slang ‘customer’). Older etymologies (1st ed. … [Link]

Omniglot blog » Comrades and companions

Friday 8 December 11:26:35 UTC 2017

The other day a Manx-speaking friend posted a photo on Instagram of a boat with the name Cumraig, with a note saying that it means comrade or companion: Cumraig – comrade / companion #Manx #Gaelic #gaelg #culture #identity #isleofman A post shared by Adrian Cain: Greinneyder (@greinneyder) on Dec 6, 2017 at 3:44am PST I wondered if Cumraig is related … [Link]

Language Log » A virus that fixes your grammar

Friday 8 December 10:16:44 UTC 2017

In today's Dilbert strip, Dilbert is confused by why the company mission statement looks so different, and Alice diagnoses what's happened: the Elbonian virus that has been corrupting the company's computer systems has fixed all the grammar and punctuation errors it formerly contained. That'll be the day. Right now, computational linguists with an unlimited budget (and unlimited help from Elbonian … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Bands

Friday 8 December 8:30:00 UTC 2017

One thousand dollars Bands a make her dance -Juicy J [Link]

languagehat.com » GTAGE: The Tsipras Edition.

Friday 8 December 1:37:27 UTC 2017

A few months ago I reported on the return of Nick Nicholas to blogging; he’s been doing great stuff ever since, and it’s high time I posted about some of it. I’ll start with his delightful posts titled “GTAGE: The Tsipras Edition”: Part #1, Part #2. He takes “comically literal translations of Greek into English” and explains how they work, … [Link]

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