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 » Biscriptal juxtaposition in Chinese, part 4

Friday 26 January 20:41:28 UTC 2018

Screenshot from Nikita Kuzmin's WeChat: The sentence ending in a smiley face, just above the huge broiled trotter (I think that's what it is) on a chair, reads thus: Shìwèn nǎge shào(chi)nǚ(huo) bù xiǎng yǒngyǒu yī zhǐ zhèyàng de bàozhěn ne 🙂 试问哪个少(chi)女(huo)不想拥有一只这样的抱枕呢:-) "Let me ask, 'Which foodie girl would not want to have a pillow / bolster like this?'":-) … [Link]

Language Log » What it is is what it is

Friday 26 January 20:41:27 UTC 2018

Jay Livingston sends a compendium of tautologies from The Wire: Jay comments: They seem to have at least two different senses. The most obvious is the impossibility of change. "It is what it is," "What's done is done" (and cannot be undone — there may be other similarities between The Wire and MacBeth). But some of the tautologies suggest a … [Link]

languagehat.com » Fufudio.

Friday 26 January 19:26:45 UTC 2018

Nick Nicholas has a typically detailed, informative, and enjoyable post about an obscure medieval word that’s turned up in various modern Greek dialects as well as a much more unexpected place. I’ll let you discover the facts over at Ἡλληνιστεύκοντος; me, I couldn’t resist the following (clears throat, grabs mike): There’s this word that’s been on my mind All the … [Link]

Language Log » Learning not to avoid

Friday 26 January 14:22:05 UTC 2018

Joanna Klein, "Swatting at Mosquitoes May Help You Avoid Bites, Even if you Miss", NYT 1/25/2018: If you keep swatting at a mosquito, will it leave you alone? Some scientists think so. But it depends. Some blood meals are worth a mosquito risking its life. But if there’s a more attractive or accepting alternative to feed from, a mosquito may move … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » presidential annulment

Friday 26 January 8:30:00 UTC 2018

When a presidency is stricken from the records, all of its deeds immediately canceled, and the country goes on as if it never happened. Don't we all wish presidential annulment was a thing right now [Link]

languagehat.com » Learning Greek in Ohio.

Friday 26 January 1:40:33 UTC 2018

Sarah Manavis has a nice piece at Prospect about “how immigration keeps old dialects alive”: Like most children of immigrants, I grew up speaking a half-and-half combination of languages. My Dad was the only immigrant in his family to become fluent in English; aside from him, I had an entirely and only Greek-speaking side. The other side of my family, … [Link]

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