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 » Zhou Youguang's 112th birthday

Saturday 13 January 17:47:14 UTC 2018

Google Doodle today: Zhōu Yǒuguāng 周有光 (January 12, 1906-January 13, 2017) died last year on this day. He would have been 112 years old today. We have often honored Zhou Youguang as the chief deviser of Hànyǔ Pīnyīn 汉语拼音 / 漢語拼音 ("Sinitic Spelling / Alphabet / Phoneticization"): "Zhou Youguang, Father of Pinyin" (1/14/14) "Zhou Youguang, 109 and going strong" (1/13/15) … [Link]

languagehat.com » The Turk.

Saturday 13 January 14:56:03 UTC 2018

From this Wordorigins thread I learned of a great bit of sports jargon I had not been familiar with: in football, to get a visit from the Turk is to be let go, “because the Turk is the guy who gets sent to tell a player he has been cut from the team, usually quietly/privately to avoid a scene.” A … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » shit-hole

Saturday 13 January 9:00:00 UTC 2018

The 45th President of The United States of America – Donald J. Trump "Why are we having all these people from shit-hole countries come here?" Trump said, according to a Washington Post report citing two sources briefed on the meeting. [Link]

Language Log » Ask Language Log: Easy but unused initial clusters?

Saturday 13 January 8:24:20 UTC 2018

From Bob Moore: I have recently become interested in an important Alaska native weaver named Jennie Thlunaut. The linguistic question is about the initial consonant cluster of her last name, "thl". My initial reaction on seeing the name was that this consonant cluster was not phonotactically possible in English, and that it would be hard for me to pronounce. I … [Link]

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