tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70998582011-12-18T01:10:06.571-05:00Posts from graduate students at Yale linguistics. Now fully based on the New World.Experimental linguisticshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07701748059015270033noreply@blogger.comBlogger1491100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1146420516081835782006-04-30T13:57:00.000-04:002006-04-30T14:09:38.460-04:00

This NYT article reports on a paper published in The Journal of Research in Personality in which Richard Slatcher analyzes Kerry's and W's political speech, determining that W's speech "was most like that of an older person, because, as people do when they age, he used fewer first-person singular words, more positive-emotion words, and had "a greater focus on the future...". Kerry's speech on the

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1146358528038904742006-04-29T20:54:00.000-04:002006-04-29T20:55:28.060-04:00

For the forensically minded reader, this site's got it all. From Osama bin Laden to Martin Luther King to Vladimir Putin. Check out the famous plagiarists....

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1146279630742395212006-04-28T22:36:00.000-04:002006-04-28T23:00:30.756-04:00

It must be the end of the semester's fault -- or perhaps I have still not recovered from the long, cold, wet New Haven winter that only just now seems to have ended -- or perhaps it is due to my frustration over Texas's new sin tax on cigarettes. Whatever the cause, I find that my two favorite fun Latin phrases on this page either implicate violence: Fac ut gaudeam or overtly threaten it:

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1144989106344772812006-04-14T00:04:00.000-04:002006-04-14T00:31:46.383-04:00

Just a quick note to note a fun contest for any neologisers who might be reading. Valleywag is offering $240 worth of iTunes tunes for the best Valleyspeak neologism: Valleyspeak Contest. I can't think of any good Valley neologisms at the moment. One thing though I heard recently which is kind of interesting is the polite version of hella, which is hecka. (from NoCal rather than the Valley,

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1135825434380146182005-12-28T21:38:00.000-05:002005-12-29T12:43:01.260-05:00

Merriam-Webster online announces its top ten most searched for words of 2005. The winner, MW's most searched for word is INTEGRITY. Integrity? I'm not even sure what to say about this. I guess I'm glad people are looking up words, but, integrity? The rest of the top ten are just as bland: 2. refugee 3. contempt 4. filibuster 5. insipid 6. tsunami 7. pandemic 8. conclave 9. levee 10. inept. I

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1134702384176915662005-12-15T22:03:00.000-05:002005-12-15T22:06:24.186-05:00

This really bad joke has eggcorn relevance, but I'm not sure how.Mahatma Gandhi was a peculiar person. He walked barefoot everywhere, to the point that his feet became quite thick and hard. He often went on hunger strikes, and even when he wasn't on a hunger strike, he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. He also was a very spiritual person. Finally, because he didn't eat much and

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1132880957955046752005-11-24T20:05:00.000-05:002005-11-24T22:30:15.000-05:00

NEW YORK (AP) - Dinner shared by a group of friends at a well-appointed Greenwich Village apartment featured eggplant Parmesan with a salad of mixed greens and avocado dressing. The guests already had snacked on hors d'oeuvres of smoked mozzarella and crackers. Not bad considering the diners find their food by digging through garbage. They call themselves ``freegans,'' a play on the words ``vegan

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1130429677814851632005-10-27T11:56:00.000-04:002005-10-27T12:14:37.866-04:00

This came from a recent article in CNET news, talking about machine translation:In the past few years, however, researchers have switched to using statistical analysis to get the job done. "It doesn't go through a deep understanding of the meaning of a sentence. It maps one word to another," Waibel said. "Increases in computer speed and power and databases have made this a winning approach...

LOnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1128782733578779562005-10-08T10:37:00.000-04:002005-10-20T20:24:32.890-04:00

from the Tampa Tribune:1. Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth Cause I'm Kissing You Good-bye.2. I Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling.3. If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You.4. I Sold A Car To A Guy Who Stole My Girl, But It Don't Run So We're Even.5. Mama Get A Hammer (There's A Fly On Daddy's Head).6. If The Phone Don't Ring, You'll Know It's Me.7. She's Actin'

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1128460734913687482005-10-04T17:06:00.000-04:002005-10-04T17:18:54.953-04:00

The last (or next to last, impossible to know) Google service/tool is "Google Blog Search". The linguistic interest? Well, possibly it can be a way to search texts which tend to be more informal. The bad thing is that even blogs are getting spam or being put online only to advertise porn/easy money, but that is some noise you have to deal in any case you want to get usage statistic from the web.

LOnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1127222859378122562005-09-20T09:23:00.000-04:002005-09-20T09:28:31.080-04:00

A TUSSLE over prey between a Bulgarian hunter and his hound ended when the dog shot the man. The man lost his temper and began beating his Deutsch-Drahthaar hunting dog with a rifle when the animal refused to release a killed bird it had brought back. But the dog's paw caught the trigger and the hunter was blasted with buckshot.While this headline is not quite as perfect as one

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1124808557288279802005-08-23T10:31:00.000-04:002005-08-24T21:21:48.703-04:00

What follows is the abstract for Richard Kayne's Oxford U Press Book Movement & Silence (2005), as reported in LINGUIST announcement 16.2454, of August 24:This volume collects important recent articles by Richard Kayne, one of the top formal linguists in the world. Although the articles range widely in topic and theme, they hang together in that they illustrate the power of the comparative

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1123637677780923682005-08-09T21:30:00.000-04:002005-08-09T21:35:23.316-04:00

WHEN it comes to being nasty we are rarely lost for words, according to a new dictionary that shows there are almost ten times as many insulting expressions as there are complimentary ones. The revised second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English, published today, provides 350 ways of insulting people - but only 40 compliments. [snip]Catherine Soanes, co-editor of the dictionary, said: "

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1123472879548837202005-08-07T23:33:00.000-04:002005-08-07T23:47:59.556-04:00

A suburban Salt Lake City couple on the Atkins Diet have a beef with a local restaurant after being booted from the buffet for eating too much meat. Isabelle Leota, 29, and her husband Sui Amaama, 26, both on the no-carb diet, were dining Tuesday at a Chuck-A-Rama in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville when the manager cut them off because they'd eaten too much roast beef. "It's so

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1122229855342827332005-07-24T14:20:00.000-04:002005-07-24T14:30:55.353-04:00

"du yu no vear dha laaybrari iz?""maay haart lips ap wen aay bihold e renbo in dha skaay …""sar, yuwar baegej did naut kam baay dhis flaait …" No, it's not gibberish - it's Globish. At least it's one form of Globish. In the search for a language that can be understood across the planet, there are two new English-based offerings that call themselves Globish, one out of France and the example above

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1121804941436109062005-07-19T16:08:00.000-04:002005-08-24T21:24:52.676-04:00

According to members of the UK's Professional Association of Teachers (PAT), the word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralising pupils, a group of teachers has proposed. My question is, how long would it be before the little mean kids that tease their peers for failing (or flunking, as the mean kids said at my

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1119295593692608192005-06-20T15:23:00.000-04:002005-06-20T15:26:33.696-04:00

It seems censorship is alive and well in the British kingdom, as angry potato farmers seek to impose their indignancy on the Oxford English Dictionary, banning the word "Couch Potato". Just in case they succeed, let me mention it a few times here: Couch Potato Couch Potato Couch Potato Couch Potato Couch Potato Couch Potato.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1116888275240615872005-05-23T18:31:00.000-04:002005-05-23T18:44:35.253-04:00

Probably too old, but I just heard now. This came from a spam that went through and, by pure curiosity, I started reading:Hello,l am dating a much younger woman (21). Before we began dating I was hearing stories of guys younger than me taking Vitamin V.Yes, V is for Viagra. The honorable Urban Dictionary has an entry. Apparently, some people other than Hugh Hefner are taking it like a vitamin.

LOnoreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1115911076851712062005-05-12T10:58:00.000-04:002005-05-12T11:20:06.483-04:00

Mark Liberman, in a LL post of January 2004, defends George Bush's occasional linguistic mishaps from Slate's Jacob Weisberg. To see what was the hullabaloo, I went to Weisberg's page to see what sort of slips he was chronicling. One that caught my interest is this one from Bush, of April 28, 2005:"We expect the states to show us whether or not we're achieving simple objectives—like literacy,

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1115084867005285922005-05-02T21:42:00.000-04:002005-05-02T21:47:47.006-04:00

According to Dick Yarbrough, in an article of May 2, New Yorkers talk funny because "everyone talks in a hurry because they want to get off the streets before they are mugged. New Yorkers say things like 'Watchwhereth **%@# yurgoin,'meaning, 'Excuse me, but you stepped in front of me,' and "fuggedabowdit,' which translates as, 'Thank you, but I must respectfully decline.'"And an interesting take

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1113762435062141512005-04-17T14:25:00.000-04:002005-04-17T14:27:50.366-04:00

By David Keys and Nicholas Pyke17 April 2005Thousands of previously illegible manuscripts containing work by some of the greats of classical literature are being read for the first time using technology which experts believe will unlock the secrets of the ancient world.Awesome story!

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1113508381442136612005-04-14T15:50:00.000-04:002005-04-14T15:53:01.443-04:00

A nice clipping refering to the recent string of educator/student misbehavior, and an early candidate for word of the year.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1112735440585146792005-04-05T17:04:00.000-04:002005-04-05T17:11:30.916-04:00

By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press WriterBOISE, Idaho - Art night at Erotic City apparently wasn't artistic enough. Police raided the Boise bar Monday night for violating the city's nudity ordinance, which requires that dancers wear at least pasties and a thong unless they are engaging in a performance with "serious artistic merit." The club had tried to beat the ordinance by distributing pencils

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1112369254104903862005-04-01T10:20:00.000-05:002005-04-01T10:27:34.106-05:00

IN THE dimly lit cyber-café at Sciences-Po, hot-house of the French elite, no Gauloise smoke fills the air, no dog-eared copies of Sartre lie on the tables. French students are doing what all students do: surfing the web via Google. Now President Jacques Chirac wants to stop this American cultural invasion by setting up a rival French search-engine. The idea was prompted by Google's plan to put

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1112193377766048372005-03-30T09:17:00.000-05:002005-03-30T09:36:17.770-05:00

From an editorial in today's NYT: The independent panel investigating possible corruption in the United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq has delivered a mixed verdict on Secretary General Kofi Annan. On the most explosive issue, the panel largely exonerated Mr. Annan of personal corruption in the awarding of a contract to a company that employed his son. My question is, what does it mean to

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1112071134908273572005-03-28T23:33:00.000-05:002005-03-28T23:41:15.590-05:00

[...] The bank attendants noted the robbers had accents, possibly Australian, and wore name tags similar to tags used by employees at the sports store Prince and Carroll worked at in Vail.Police knew of Prince and Carroll after they were arrested in Vail in January for allegedly shooting at windows with BB guns.When Police and the FBI matched the descriptions and accents of the January incident

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1111574450916219102005-03-23T05:40:00.000-05:002005-03-23T05:40:50.916-05:00

A list compiled by Sophos. The press release talks about the long known spammer techniques used by spammers to disguise the target words. They claim to be able to detect 5.6 billion variations of the word "Viagra", which is probably the number of possible combination according to some distance metric. But it looks a total waste of resources to be able to do it. Test even a fraction of that would

LOnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1111348607959401382005-03-20T14:52:00.000-05:002005-03-20T23:44:05.020-05:00

A SAUDI academic has been sentenced to 200 lashes and time in jail for insulting an Islamist colleague, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported today.Hamza al-Muzaini, a lecturer in linguistics at King Saud University, was accused by Abdullah al-Barak, a lecturer of Islamic culture at the same university, of defamation and insult, the London-based Al-Hayat reported.Barak, who is described as a radical

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1110422110081828662005-03-09T21:20:00.000-05:002005-03-09T21:35:10.083-05:00

No, this post has no sexual content whatsoever. Sorry to disappoint you guys. Straight softcore was the suggestion I got from Google when I mistyped straight softare. If you seach only softare, you get the correct suggestion. But with some other word, it might become more risqué. The cause is obvious. The typo correction/suggestion system is heavily based on common searches and maybe tracks

LOnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1109391310560594912005-02-25T23:08:00.000-05:002005-02-25T23:29:33.293-05:00

While I was at urbandictionary.com doing research for the previous izzle post, I decided to see what the site had to say about some other words that are a bit closer to home at the moment. There appears to be nothing on pragmatics, syntax, or phonology. There is, however, quite a lot contributed on "linguist" and "linguistic", and more to the point of this post, there is an entry for "semantics"

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1109389853371188812005-02-25T22:33:00.000-05:002005-02-25T22:50:53.373-05:00

[...]The infix izz appeared early during the gestation of hip hop— emerging in the 1985 song “Roxanne Roxanne” by the Brooklyn rap group UTFO. While izz didn’t immediately integrate into common vernacular, it did flower in avant-garde hip hop. For instance, the izz re-emerges in the 1991 Another Bad Creation song “Coolin' at the Playground Ya’ Know” with the lyric “Into the Mizzark chillin in the

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1109217741259325322005-02-23T23:02:00.000-05:002005-02-23T23:07:56.160-05:00

This is Koko's UNATTENTION sign. I post it here in honor of Larry Horn's lecture on UN-words in Negation seminar today. Apparently, as an UN-noun, this particular construction is quite rare, netting only 181 Google hits--many of which relate to Ms. Koko herself.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1108772696033245852005-02-18T19:20:00.000-05:002005-02-18T19:25:40.813-05:00

Two former employees of the Gorilla Foundation, home to Koko the "talking" ape, have filed a lawsuit contending that they were ordered to bond with the 33-year-old female simian.... This is truly one of the strangest stories I have read in a long time. Who would have ever thought of Koko having a fetish such as the one mentioned? It's very sad, as this is bound to have an incredible impact on the

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1107907889399302242005-02-08T19:03:00.000-05:002005-02-08T19:13:30.770-05:00

ExpLing readers may remember 30%'s previous post of muffins and low-riding jeans. It appears now though that a state representative from Virginia stands poised to "crack down on people" who wear low-riding pants. Norfolk Delegate Algie Howell Jr. proposes fines of $50 for people whose undergarments are exposed, saying in a beautiful piece of logic: "That's why they're called undergarments.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1107741277718212212005-02-06T20:29:00.000-05:002005-02-06T20:54:37.716-05:00

The The Neologiac Spooneristocrat has written quite suggestively of the lovely young pop tart Britney Spears and her moaning while lowering her velum. Further, the bit of discussion concerning GoogleWhacking with performative hydrostats has been suggestive in its own right. Part of the fun of linguistic study is observing the lengths to which words can be pushed. Even more entertaining to see

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1107650693565734732005-02-05T19:39:00.000-05:002005-02-05T19:48:45.386-05:00

Great news! My favorite GoogleWhack "performati[v]e hydr[o]stat" from a much earlier post is now a GoogleWhack again. It seems that as the ExpLing blog entries added up, pushing the older overflow entries into archive status, my disqualifying mention of "performati[v]e hydr[o]stat" has been pushed out of Google bounds. It seems now to be invisible, thus my former whack is once again a real

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1107440246138636292005-02-03T09:17:00.000-05:002005-02-03T09:17:26.136-05:00

By Harold Olmos Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazilians seem to have trouble holding on to their official names. Sports stars, politicians and other celebrities in this vibrant, freewheeling country are mostly known by nicknames. Legal names become practically irrelevant. In the land of Pele, legal names are dropped Quite nice and mostly accurate article about naming habits in Brazil. Last names

LOnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1107399773613124772005-02-02T22:02:00.000-05:002005-02-02T22:02:53.613-05:00

Not a Google Whack or phonetics as described by a non-phonetician, but a Canadian hip hop group. I am not sure if they will ever make it, but the name does not seem to help. But it is quite funny the idea to name your band with some linguistic inspiration. What about "sympathetic syntax", "phreakin phonology", etc. This also caught my attention to another fact. Phonetics is a more known term to

LOnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1107224910490101472005-01-31T21:20:00.000-05:002005-01-31T21:30:24.710-05:00

The origin of the expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is the subject of some controversy. A British men's underwear company, Brass Monkeys, makes the popular claim that the term dates back to the British navy. Sailors were said to store cannonballs on brass platforms called "monkeys"; in cold weather, the brass would contract or break and the cannonballs would roll

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1106774117956925132005-01-26T16:15:00.000-05:002005-01-26T16:15:17.956-05:00

Australian language experts say the Aussie accent is losing its distinctive "ocker" twang. The nasal, flattened vowels familiar from the rants of Dame Edna Everage, Crocodile Dundee, former prime minister Bob Hawke and television ads for Australian beer are making way for less extreme, more mellifluous sounds, say researchers at Sydney's Macquarie University who have just completed a 15-year

LOnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1106631568652182282005-01-25T00:39:00.000-05:002005-01-25T00:39:28.653-05:00

Here is a very weird discussion in Slashdot if you are a linguist. Someone asked: "At what age do people learn [how to code] faster?" One of the first replies then mentions "language" acquisition, but in this case, language means programming language. The same person also mentions linguistics, contrasting to "language" acquisition. Ant the following posts have abundant misconception about human

LOnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1106425084715379532005-01-22T15:14:00.000-05:002005-01-22T15:18:04.716-05:00

Zoo keepers have had to reach for their phrasebooks so they can talk to animals whose command of English is shaky to say the least. The language problem emerged when Port Lympne Wild Animal Park at Hythe, Kent, in southeast England was given 19 Guinea baboons by Paris Zoo, where enthusiastic breeding had led to a surplus. [...]''If we speak English to them they just look completely bemused and

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1106259178545789312005-01-20T17:10:00.000-05:002005-01-20T17:12:58.546-05:00

FEMA (federal emergency managment agency) apparently has a game for children in which they must fix tsunami damage. You can check it out here.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1106231137729032642005-01-20T09:13:00.000-05:002005-01-20T09:41:15.260-05:00

Our New Heavenite readers probably noticed that yesterday's snow was quite unsual, not only from someone coming from the tropics. Americans and an European used to snow confirmed me, so now I can blame someone else if I look silly. I know that there are several names for different types of snow in English, especially if you practice snowboarding, but I wonder whether there is a name for that

LOnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1105986931210730242005-01-17T13:29:00.000-05:002005-01-17T13:37:33.490-05:00

This, from a BBC article entitled UN urges rapid action on poverty "Every month, 150,000 children in Africa, if not more, are dying from the silent tsunami of malaria, a largely preventable and utterly treatable disease," he said. Maybe it's just me, but I find this usage of tsunami wholly inappropriate, given recent events. Is it also just a coincidence that the number of malaria casualties is

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1105724791253186782005-01-14T13:33:00.000-05:002005-01-14T12:50:41.563-05:00

THE Pentagon considered developing a host of non-lethal chemical weapons that would disrupt discipline and morale among enemy troops, newly declassified documents reveal. Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Another was to develop a chemical that caused "severe and lasting

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1105713288189057662005-01-14T09:31:00.000-05:002005-01-14T09:35:35.766-05:00

LONDON (Reuters) - UK advertising regulators signaled a weariness of the double entendre used by French Connection to sell its FCUK brand and warned the clothing chain again, this time over a promotion for its line of fragrances. In an ad placed for French Connection by Zirh International in the Boots pharmacy chain's magazine, a picture of a young couple sitting on a bed in their underwear

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1105426691050532932005-01-11T01:31:00.000-05:002005-01-11T01:58:11.050-05:00

Not that there's any "light" side to the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami, but consider a certain lexical after-effect it's had: according to this post on WordLab, "Toyota Canada is abandoning plans for the 'Special Edition Celica Tsunami'." A second, unrelated after-effect has to do with English phonology, or at least the English phonology of NPR announcers. Does anyone else notice the

The Neologiac Spooneristocrathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213995643696348005noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103445059088983892004-12-19T03:30:00.000-05:002004-12-19T03:30:59.086-05:00

The post from our buddy spoon reminded me of this website: Googlewhacking: The Search for The One True Googlewhack. The idea is to find a combination of two or more words with more than 3 letters and used in prose which have exactly one google hit. I propose a contest to find the most original/amusing whack using at least one linguistic term. Things like "phonetically lame". The rules are here.

LOnoreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103421000273111532004-12-18T20:40:00.000-05:002004-12-18T20:50:00.273-05:00

This evening I received an e-mail from a faculty member who happened to be using Google to investigate the recency and frequency of novel slang-words. (The words connect to SHEW, but let's leave the professor anonymous). His message reads: So here I was looking up "procrasturbate" and making my way from the 229 google hits for clues on how long this has been around, when one of the sites I

The Neologiac Spooneristocrathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213995643696348005noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103323699938638482004-12-17T17:16:00.000-05:002004-12-18T20:40:05.816-05:00

The undergraduates in the "Structure and History of English Words" (SHEW) course here at Yale were assigned a semester-long project wherein they collected newly-coined English words (or novel senses of pre-existing words). Culled from the dozens of noteworthy submissions are five words that, I think, capture the Zeitgeist well enough to warrant candidacy for the American Dialect Society's annual

The Neologiac Spooneristocrathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213995643696348005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103321152855089192004-12-17T17:00:00.000-05:002004-12-17T17:05:52.856-05:00

On the main UrbanDictionary.com site: (sorry if this is offensive to any of you LingPrudes)

The Neologiac Spooneristocrathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213995643696348005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103314725257804362004-12-17T15:09:00.000-05:002004-12-17T15:18:45.256-05:00

A problem has plagued this explinger for some time and he still cannot make sense of it. Perhaps some other explinger might be able to splain it to him. The problem is this: Why do "pitted" olives still have their pits? Now for the second time I have bought pitted olives expecting no hard stones in the center and got just that, hard stones. My first intuition is that "pitted" means that the

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103055813390800152004-12-14T15:21:00.000-05:002004-12-14T15:23:33.390-05:00

As predicted in the Observer's review of the book last month, Tom Wolfe's latest novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons (Jonathan Cape), has picked up this year's Literary Review Bad Sex award. The annual prize is awarded to the worst description of sex in a contemporary novel. Wolfe triumphed with the following - edited - passage: "Hoyt began moving his lips as if he were trying to suck the ice cream

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103048625005179572004-12-14T13:23:00.000-05:002004-12-14T13:23:45.006-05:00

As the Hacker/Leet languuage was a major hit among expling bloggers, here goes a website that converts automatically regular text into Hacker language, with varying degrees of hackerness. I found that 30% is quite readable, with noticeable modifications. 90%, for example, gives outputs like that: 7|-|1$ 1$ 4 #0|\|93. 73$7. (4|\| %05 .34P 7|-|1$ |\|475.4##%? which is this with 30%: Th1s 1s 4

LOnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1103030762631870322004-12-14T08:20:00.000-05:002004-12-14T08:26:02.630-05:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Google Inc. is trying to establish an online reading room for five major libraries by scanning stacks of hard-to-find books into its widely used Internet search engine. The ambitious initiative announced late Monday gives Mountain View, Calif.-based Google the right to index material from the New York public library as well as libraries at four universities: Harvard,

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102730577300119742004-12-10T20:50:00.000-05:002004-12-10T21:02:57.300-05:00

This post is in regard to a problem I have been aware of for at least 15 years but have never had the language at my disposal with which to describe it. What I am about here is a discrepancy, a mismatch, between a classic rock and roll song of 1964 and an almost perfect cover of that song dating to 1982. Of course, I am talking about Roy Orbison (1964) and Van Halen (1982)'s "Pretty Woman".

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102642651401797572004-12-09T20:37:00.000-05:002004-12-09T20:40:21.476-05:00

A possible answer to the Cicada question from below!

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102632083844969992004-12-09T17:25:00.000-05:002004-12-09T17:41:23.846-05:00

Sorry if some of you find this tasteless, but one of my SHEW students writes in his journal that he never knew there was a name for "the stuff that's found in one's eye after sleep." He cites the word as "gound," and claimed he learned it from his brother. The OED online defines "gound" as "Foul matter, esp. that secreted in the eye," but claims it's obsolete (!). Okay, so is there a

The Neologiac Spooneristocrathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213995643696348005noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102603249961502062004-12-09T09:33:00.000-05:002004-12-09T09:43:22.490-05:00

I just love (it) when, for example, I'm in a store checkout line and after paying the cashier I'll hear the parting line "Have a good one!" Now, what exactly is that supposed to mean? Have a good bout with the flu? Have a good b.m.? Have a good visit with your proctologist later on? Or simply have a good day? What? "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, I'll have a good one alright. Same to ya!"

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102551048914370882004-12-08T19:01:00.000-05:002004-12-08T19:10:48.916-05:00

Rush Limbaugh is one of the most influential voices on the American political scene today. While many regard his voice as polemical and bombastic, he nevertheless has a primary role in formulating the metaphors which shape much of the new Republican Congress' policies. Though many dismiss his rhetoric as simplistic and intellectually facile, he clearly taps deep into the American psyche with his

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102542050423363092004-12-08T16:34:00.000-05:002004-12-08T16:46:15.220-05:00

Democrats' quest to figure out how to relate to voters in the American heartland has brought them to--where else?--Berkeley. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the party is seeking advice from George Lakoff, a professor of linguistics and cognitive sciences at the University of California, who "is a hot item in liberal circles these days as he argues Democrats must develop a message that

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102532442217899472004-12-08T14:00:00.000-05:002004-12-08T14:00:42.216-05:00

A possible Christmas gift for that friend that is ashamed of being American right now an wants to travel without beeing booed: go Canadian. That is what this website sells. Included, a free report: "How to speak Canadian, eh"? I guess it is easier than speaking Australian. Or you can just go Quebecian if your language abilities allow you so. The possibilities are endless. So is the consumerism.

LOnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102527154243536542004-12-08T13:28:00.000-05:002004-12-08T18:45:05.353-05:00

A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word "dude," contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers. Reminds me of an old paper by Ross and Cooper called "Like Syntax", where the authors decipher the word like, "like". It seems like there is almost an entire cottage

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102496392710018682004-12-08T02:34:00.000-05:002004-12-08T03:59:52.710-05:00

Dear Friends, I've finally heeded the ruckus and joined the fracas. And I'm only three months late! At first, not having a substantially new topic to broach and preferring to comment on the many already-active posts, I thought I'd enter quietly, without my typical hubris, and leave behind my trace only via comments--some of which include (feeble attempts at) doggerel. Suspecting, however,

The Neologiac Spooneristocrathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13213995643696348005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102454714981091232004-12-07T16:14:00.000-05:002004-12-07T16:26:43.373-05:00

"Hemiproto-semipseudo-ante [up]-post-preantidisestablishmentarianistic(al) Linguistics" Just liked the name...

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102453777482317122004-12-07T15:31:00.000-05:002004-12-07T16:09:37.483-05:00

..."Spearmental Linguistics?" What about " 'Mental Linguistics?" To satisfy a relatively highly ranking *NC I guess it could be " 'Metal Linguistics," featuring online chats with Mötley Crüe and Judas Priest, or we could perhaps, dare I say, derive [an unsettling silence begins to permeate the room], within various strata, of course, "Mendelian Linguistics" or even "Mendelssohnian Linguistics."

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102269256674743922004-12-05T13:28:00.002-05:002004-12-07T15:23:59.546-05:00

Tübingen must have thought it about time to start offering its visitors the opportunity ("...OF A LIFETIME!") to experience earthquakes firsthand. Connecticut experienced a few over the last several years but I was either sleeping when they occurred or else they were simply too weak or too far off to have any effect on me. I knew I wasn't going off the loose end last night when I felt 5 seconds

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102267300465410792004-12-05T13:20:00.000-05:002004-12-05T12:21:40.466-05:00

Any guesses as to whom this mystery scholar of the headline might be? Click to find out.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102216831176614852004-12-04T22:12:00.000-05:002004-12-04T22:22:29.876-05:00

but no mirror sites. Yale Ling has not obtained that status of infectious disease, as of yet, though it should be. (That last clause presents a nice follow-up to Willie's post "New Haven Adverts..." Analyze dat! :-D)

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102202575610025832004-12-04T18:10:00.000-05:002004-12-04T18:22:55.610-05:00

A quick note to comment on extended adjective and adverbial intensifier constructions, which are most commonly identified with German, I believe. However, the examples below are English. The first comes from a commercial for Yoplait yoghurt in which two bride's maids are kicking back, exhausted, after a wedding, savoring some Yoplait, discussing how good it tastes. (Surely a time rife for

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102179264925660672004-12-04T11:47:00.000-05:002004-12-05T10:35:52.143-05:00

SCO'Re von's mention below of Branford grocery store rules reminds me of an interesting syntactic specimen of an advertisement that can be seen around New Haven in at least two places I can think of. The specimen is a highway billboard for St. Raphael's Hospital, which reads: "Our good experience ensures yours will be" I won't provide an analysis, but it seems like there is some variety of

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102151150844293082004-12-04T03:58:00.000-05:002004-12-04T04:05:50.843-05:00

There is some pretty crude language in here but that's what makes it so hilarious. CY introduced me to the book a few years back and I remember that I was literally, yes, LITERALLY hurting because I couldn't stop laughing. Enjoy.

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102150290793428812004-12-04T03:05:00.000-05:002004-12-04T03:54:55.156-05:00

Ok kids, get out your 3D glasses, it's time for fun! Here's our challenge for today: Try to come up with a sentence that contains the longest uninterrupted string of phonetically equivalent words possible (in your native tongue of course). Example A: 1. Had(1) had had Had(2) over for dinner the other night. 2. Had Had(1) had Had(2) over for a dinner of smoked salmon [(not Will!)] the other

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102136050823689472004-12-03T23:28:00.000-05:002004-12-03T23:54:10.823-05:00

I'm just reminded of a little chuckle I had a couple years back over two signs that were posted in the Shoeperfresh in Branford--or is it Branhaven (?). Each was posted at an express checkout line. At one end of the store came a sign with the expected "10 Items or Less." At the opposite end, at the very same time time on the very same day mind you, came the second sign, which stated "10 Items

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102109667069589432004-12-03T16:23:00.000-05:002004-12-04T02:39:40.666-05:00

Poor Mr. Safire, having succumbed to the effects of syllable-initial lenition, may have thought it opportune to add a phonetically meaningless character and penultimate his stress in a reticent attempt to escape the shadows of his linguistically inclined predecessor formerly of the same surname. But that's just my opinion.

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102103047186336942004-12-03T13:54:00.000-05:002004-12-03T14:44:07.186-05:00

Well let's see, I've been doing many things linguistics-related while in Tübingen, finding my way around the various departments, so in that sense I guess I really am studying linguistics in an "experimental" fashion at the moment. I was surprised to find that there are two linguistics depts. here, the "main" Dept. of Linguistics (Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft) and the Dept. of Comparative

SCO'Re von (temporarily at least) Tübingen GmbHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08072957544552643963noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1102040383143555572004-12-02T21:16:00.000-05:002004-12-02T21:19:43.143-05:00

In Europe, the theo-cons are rallying. Read all about it here.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1101800199715420942004-11-30T02:36:00.000-05:002004-11-30T02:36:39.716-05:00

The online Merriam-Webster has a list of words of the year. Guess what is the top 1? No, not "linguistics", but "blog". Many other in the top 10 list are politically related, but one is particularly curious: cicada. They are very common in Brasil in the Fall. Especially disgusting for some, especially because they "pee" on you when making that loud noise. I also heard that they are no peeing. It

LOnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1101705309209944582004-11-29T01:11:00.000-05:002004-11-29T00:18:51.416-05:00

WASHINGTON 'Fo'shizzle, I'm going to get hella crunk tonight." The first slang word is a variant of "for sure"; the second, hella, is an adjective meaning "very, a lot, really," perhaps a clip of "helluva." But the word that's sweeping the high-school halls and college campuses is crunk, a blend of "crazy" and "drunk," which has elbowed aside wasted, just as faded has replaced stoned. A hard

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1101224864709736162004-11-23T10:45:00.000-05:002004-11-23T10:48:43.290-05:00

QUEBEC (CP) - The French language is in a "precarious" state in Quebec as English usage continues to grow, says a report by Quebec's language watchdog. The Office quebecois de la langue francaise says English usage is growing at a slightly higher rate than French - two per cent for English compared with 1.7 per cent for French. Efforts to force businesses to comply with language laws "have not

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1101093222471948992004-11-21T22:05:00.000-05:002004-11-24T15:51:24.716-05:00

I had an interesting “demonstrative moment” last Friday at the linguistics department. It happened in LingSem directly before Peter Gordon’s talk on Piraha counting. Peter and I and a Yale faculty member—who shall remain nameless—were waiting for the rest of the department to show up to LingSem, get their food, settled in, &c. So Peter points to the many portraits embellishing the walls of

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1101091115347447852004-11-21T21:24:00.000-05:002004-11-21T21:39:50.340-05:00

[T]he company behind the internet's leading search engine aims to change the academic world too, with a new search tool putting a treasure trove of scholarly writing within the reach of everyday users. Following moves to make scientific research freely available, Google Scholar allows any internet user to search for keywords in theses, books, technical reports, university websites and even

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1100876085816577162004-11-19T09:49:00.000-05:002004-11-19T09:54:45.816-05:00

With an English-speaking population now likely to have surpassed that of Britain and the US, India, with its dynamic variety of English, is set to become a linguistic superpower, argues David Crystal.India currently has a special place in the English language record books - as the country with the largest English-speaking population in the world. Ten years ago that record was held by the US. Not

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1100146621463097362004-11-10T23:11:00.000-05:002004-11-11T12:53:53.336-05:00

The antepenultimate post brings up an interesting grammatical construction, viz., "X this!" where the demonstrative usually not-so-covertly suggests certain parts of one's anatomy, and the X part, regardless of original category, suggests a copulative function--not necessarily of the auxiliary variety. Needless to say, the demonstrative "this" usually would involve a quite obvious and possibly

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1100121473826548632004-11-10T16:11:00.000-05:002004-11-10T16:21:57.810-05:00

Two new 2004 election verbs: to daschle: "Already, there is a new verb floating around the Capitol: "Daschled." It describes what can happen to those, like the Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, who oppose Republican legislation and then lose re-election in heavily Republican states." to cheney: as in, Go Cheney yourself, How the Cheney would I know?, Cheney you., I don’t give a flying Cheney.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1100120665338895672004-11-10T16:04:00.000-05:002004-11-10T16:04:25.336-05:00

This expression I got from a pro-Bush advertisement. In its full form: "Hey Hollywood Fahrenheit this W is for Winner" The meaning is certainly something negative, and probably related to media, and certainly funny as a verb. Maybe now one can say: "I've been fahrenteid last night". "The experimental Linguistics blog will never be fahrenheited!". And there you go. So far, I found 16 hits of "

LOnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1099812766243115552004-11-07T02:17:00.000-05:002004-11-07T02:32:46.243-05:00

Today we have a link provided by our colleague Julia Kuznetsova about grammatical rarities. Things like "an extra-large inventory of pronominal words, of some 200" or "a basic colour term for TURQUOISE". Many degrees of rareness with sources and sometimes a brief comment. Really nice collection. Enjoy.

LOnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1099791839903317182004-11-06T20:37:00.000-05:002004-11-06T20:45:16.070-05:00

An interesting piece on the apparent glottocentrism of Swiss president Joseph Deiss: Swiss President Joseph Deiss has welcomed the idea of a national law on languages to stem the spread of English in the country. He was speaking after meeting representatives from all four of Switzerland’s linguistic regions who denounced the increasing use of English within the federal administration. In case

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1099273846377698612004-10-31T20:43:00.000-05:002004-11-08T00:15:40.193-05:00

Holtzinger admits it's getting easier to be a witch, but the practice is still misunderstood and feared. "As soon as you tell people you're a witch, the curtain goes down," he said. "We want to reclaim the word and remove its negative connotation. It's a matter of education." I for one am glad to see that witches are getting their fair due...and connotations! Although, I should say by now that

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1099155808301789712004-10-30T13:53:00.000-04:002004-10-30T13:03:28.300-04:00

quoting Curt Schilling concerning Red Sox politics:``There are guys on this club who are Bush supporters. There are guys on this club who are Kerry supporters, it's a good mix,'' he said.This is an interesting preposition usage by pitcher Schilling. I would've thought being "IN" a club and "ON" a team (Google supports this). Maybe I'm splitting hairs here, as a club can be a team and a team can

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1098661480602792082004-10-24T19:37:00.000-04:002004-10-24T19:45:58.176-04:00

Being called a 'gaijin' is not unusual or harmful, says Cai Evans The best reason for not blowing your gasket when you hear yourself called a gaijin, however, is to remember that it's your word now -- if you have the guts to claim it. Think of it this way: The longer we stay offended by this tag, the longer it will be used by some as a tool to keep us in our place, as it were. Yet the sooner we

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1098448079242804212004-10-22T08:20:00.000-04:002004-10-22T08:27:59.243-04:00

from The NYT:But after these formal sessions in front of the teleprompter, Mr. Kerry has been doing what he can to seem more down to earth. He uses more contractions and drops G's, T's, and N's, making "does not" sound like "dudnt," and "government" come out, as it might have in the Old West, "guvmint." And from the Columbus Dispatch, Kerry weighs in with his very own personal dative:In Buchanan,

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1097679573647472522004-10-13T10:59:00.000-04:002004-10-13T10:59:33.646-04:00

Phonetics students are always plagued with this. How to insert properly IPA symbols on your problem set. The most common way is to use SIL IPA fonts, which are really nice and complete. The backdrop is the pain to insert one by one, as most people do not know the mapping for the non-Roman characters. But it works ibn the end, until someone who has not an IPA font opens it. Weird symbols. Or a

LOnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1097543588590796892004-10-11T21:07:00.000-04:002004-10-11T21:13:08.590-04:00

It appears as if Bardford College is now putting out linguistics Phd's. Bardford appears to be embracing a quite non-traditional educational model, as degrees are completed quite rapidly, even moreso than was customary in many linguistics departments of the 1960s and 70s.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1097462928932634752004-10-10T22:33:00.000-04:002004-10-10T22:50:10.743-04:00

The grand plan to simplify the German language is turning into an embarrassing and expensive national nightmare. An estimated €50 billion spent, and five years down the road of using the “new German” spelling and grammar, the plan has gone awry with the country’s top newspaper publishers opting to swing back to the old way. ... Going with public opinion which shows that 64% of Germans don’t want

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1097101881958556272004-10-06T18:21:00.000-04:002004-10-06T20:51:46.453-04:00

A quick note to note a tres cool poetry reading by poetico Chad Davidson--taking place Thursday, October 7, 6:30 p.m, at Linsly-Chittenden 211, as part of the English Department's Grad Poet Colloquium. (basically, the English Department's version of our Friday Lunch Talks, except I think our food is better!). Anyway, make it out if you can, Chad's a hell of a fine reader and writer.

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1096990050925011252004-10-05T11:27:00.000-04:002004-10-05T11:27:30.926-04:00

This one seems at a first glance n the same line as the previous vowel sexyness stuff, but not quite. Here goes the abstract: We investigated the relationship between ratings of voice attractiveness and sexually dimorphic differences in shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) and waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), as well as different features of sexual behavior. Opposite-sex voice attractiveness ratings were

LOnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1096834846864639002004-10-03T16:17:00.000-04:002004-10-03T16:21:33.090-04:00

...After abstractly pondering these facts for several years in the early 1990's, Professor Viril Ustanov began to see mounting evidence that perhaps Human Language was, in fact, a symptom of an infectious agent. Since no likely agent could be found on Earth, Professor Ustanov turned toward the heavens in search of an answer. .. Professor Ustanov and a not incredibly not plausible theory of

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7099858.post-1096729746941500742004-10-02T11:00:00.000-04:002004-10-02T11:09:06.943-04:00

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. (AP) - Mount St. Helens, the volcano that blew its top with cataclysmic force in 1980, erupted for the first time in 18 years Friday, belching a huge column of white steam and ash after days of rumblings under the mountain."It wasn't lava-y, so I wasn't scared," said Lorain Weatherby, who was working a snack bar down the road from St. Helens. "It was like a big white cloud

W1ll13 30% Hackerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12420313751160191560noreply@blogger.com1