When commas are crucial to comprehension

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1311

 

Downfall of Grammar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8fbrUjjivw

(Via Language Log.)

 

Language Log: Reverberant thinking

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1138

How fast do songbirds migrate?

 

No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/world/europe/23crapstone.html

“In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them.” (Jan 22, 2009)

Brought to our attention by Language Log.

 

The last Bushism?

Fun with verbs! Fun with verbs! Read the comments — the ‘strong’ verb pattern from Old English LIVES!

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1044

“The ‘Bushisms’ industry, mined so thoroughly by Slate‘s Jacob Weisberg for eight long years, is now a thing of the past. But Weisberg’s colleague at Slate, Christopher Beam, got an exclusive scoop on a behind-the-scenes eleventh-hour Bushism when he managed to get into a farewell party for the outgoing administration on Sunday night.” (Jan 21, 2009)

 

Doughnuts and what?

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1030

“If you want a sense of just what a hole the right finds itself in these days, consider the recent press release from the anti-abortion American Life League headed ‘KRISPY KREME CELEBRATES OBAMA WITH PRO-ABORTION DOUGHNUTS.'” (Jan 18, 2009)

Remember, if you take nothing else from this item — free doughnuts on Tuesday.

 

Presidential inaugurals: the form and the content

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1022

It’s actually about more than just inaugural speeches, and it’s phrased very well, ex:

“It’s not so much that the superficial rules for writing promulgated Orwell and by Strunk and White are toxic and meretricious (though they do poison young minds, and should be condemned for that); it’s that if you think they are deep and important and determinative of quality, it is YOU that will get hung up on trivialities of form rather than important aspects of content.”

 

The Linguistic Diversity of Aboriginal Europe

Yes, I am weird enough to find this really interesting:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=980

“What was Europe like, linguistically speaking, between the end of the last ice age and the coming of the Indo-European languages?” (Jan 6, 2009)

 

Gaelic as a bonsai word bag (with two missing)

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=961

But just as I was getting interested, Brown blundered into linguistics and revealed his dumb side:

I say language but Gaelic isn’t one, not really. Its vocabulary is tiny, with no form of saying yes or no and attuned to a distant, pre-technological world. It’s essentially a kind of rural patois, a bonsai idiolect; a way of specifying concepts central to a particular, highly codified way of life.

Yecchhh. Everything about the layman’s concept of a language that I rail against is there.

 

Swearing and social networks

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=927

“Swearing is risky behavior. Many of its implications are out of the speaker’s control. Thus, it is advisable to know your audience well before, say, dropping the F-bomb. I think this is basically true in any setting, and I expect it to be even more powerfully felt in situations where swearing is highly transgressive.

“The Enron email dataset provides a nice chance to test out these claims.”

(Dec 19, 2008)

 

The Atlas of True Names

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/12/07/334-the-atlas-of-true-names/

The Atlas substitutes the original meanings of the world’s place names for the better-known, ossified toponyms.

See also:

• http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=861
• http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/in-place-names-old-meanings-made-new/
• http://www.kalimedia.com/Atlas_of_True_Names.html

 

The politics of agreement

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=845

I’m bringing this article to your attention for two reasons. One, back when I worked at the U I fielded a few inquiries on the “person” it’s about. Ah, memories. Two, in the comment section someone provides a link to one of my favorite linguistics papers, a hilarious and well-written and definitely NSFW piece on a particular linguistic phenomenon….

 

Fry on the pleasure of language

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=817

Two videos and a lovely excerpt from Stephen Fry, courtesy of Language Log. If only this could be the final word on the topic. This, or “Well sod them to Hades.” That would work, too.

 

Forget framing — it’s hypnosis!

Dear Brain,

I read this and thought of you. You’ll know why.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=778

 

The development of language

“… with profanity as its pinnacle:”

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=762