Language Log: Controlled Access Lickometry
I've gotten a lot of strange spam over the years, but this one wins some sort of prize: Now you can control when the subject will have the opportunity to respond on a nose poke with the new Controlled...
View ArticleLanguage Log: A mechanical and slightly detestable operandum
The word operandum, featured in this morning's post about highbrow spam, is as yet unknown to the Oxford English Dictionary. But nearly 50 years ago, it was the title of a paper by none other than...
View ArticleLanguage Log: Fashionably many Icelandic words for snow
Spotted by Jonathan Lighter on a recent trip to Iceland: "A big ad for 66°North fashions, prominently displayed at Keflavik Airport, telling passengers everywhere that There are over [a] 100 words for...
View ArticleLanguage Log: Special than
Contamination can happen with any surface that touches meat, like a counter top, she says. "There's nothing special about these bags than anything else that can become contaminated," she says. [from...
View ArticleLanguage Log: A treat for fans of eggcorns and crosswords
If you have even a passing interest in crosswords, you may know the legendary name of Merl Reagle, whose syndicated Sunday puzzle appears in many major newspapers (the Washington Post, the Los Angeles...
View ArticleLanguage Log: Oops: a listening guide
The latest installment of WNYC's show Radiolab is entitled "Oops," and it's about how we so often get tripped up by the unintended consequences of our actions. Hosts Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad...
View ArticleLanguage Log: Hay foot straw foot
Here's something for our "Words for X" file, along with some historical fiction and a bit of relevant psychology. A blog post at Discover Magazine recently discussed some interesting new...
View ArticleLanguage Log: Six nouns, six verbs, who knows
Whatever exactly we decide a crash blossom is, we are surely going to want to agree with James Martin, of the Department of Statistics at Oxford University, that this is one: May axes Labour police...
View ArticleLanguage Log: The Four Tones
In beginning Mandarin courses, teachers often use the four syllables mā 媽 ("mom"), má 麻 ("hemp"), mǎ 馬 ("horse"), mà 罵 ("curse") to introduce the four tones. Since the four syllables in sequence do...
View ArticleLanguage Log: Applause, please, for a great headline
We post a lot of crash blossoms here on Language Log — appallingly worded headlines that slow down your parsing and (whether intendedly or not) have crazy extra meanings. But let's hand out some kudos...
View Article
