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Women read more than men?
I came across a story on NPR today about why women read more than men. They quote from Louann Brizendine who wrote the book The Female Brain. The issue of gender differences and the brain always starts...
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Another think coming
Language Log brought up the usage of the phrase another thing coming today. This is the only way I’ve ever heard it or seen it used. But it turns out, the original is another think coming. The thing...
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Ultrafast thumb-only keyboard
In a recent press release, kannuu is claiming to have revolutionized text entry. They claim that you can now perform text entry with just your thumb at the same speed of a regular keyboard. Too good to...
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Richard M. Hogg Prize in Linguistics
A couple months ago, I wrote about Richard Hogg dying. He was a professor at the University of Manchester who edited the Cambridge History of the English Language and did a lot of work on Old English...
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To ebay this, to google that
There is nothing unusual about verbing nouns in English. Despite the fact that your English teacher may have told you not to do this, it is common practice, especially on the intarwebs. Verbing brand...
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Nanoblahblah, borne forth from the blagoblag
It’s a morning of fun new words! First I hear greenwashing on the Today Show, which Donna likes to watch while she eats brekkie. Then, Language Log delights me with nanoblahblah, henchgoon, and...
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Overgermanification
I was just reading a Wired article about the deaths of two AI researchers: Chris McKinstry and Pushpinder Singh. Both were working on strong AI (or at least, had the hope of it). Both committed...
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Theoretical versus Empirical DP
I was asked recently about the motivation for Abney’s DP (determiner phrase) hypothesis. That is, that determiners are not part of English noun phrases but head up their own phrases of which NPs are...
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Linguistic Homogenization and Power
This is a subject much larger than the treatment I am about to give it. Linguistic homogenization occurs in modern states where regional dialects are marginalized and a standard dialect is advanced as...
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The One Millionth English Word is ‘Rubbish’
Paul Payak of the Global Language Monitor is claiming the 1 millionth English word is coming soon. He says a new English word is coined every 98 minutes, so the 1 million marker will arrive about 15...
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