(Chronicle Books, 2016) By Jaye Marsh Jungian analyst Robert Johnson’s oft-quoted words from his book The Fisher King and the Handless Maiden have stayed with me: "Sanskrit has 96 words for love, ancient Persian has 80, Greek three, and English only one." Given the English language's predilection for absorbing new words from many cultures, it … Continue reading Book Review: Other-Wordly: Words Both Strange and Lovely from around the World by Yee-Lum Mak
Category: language
Report on ACES 2017 in St. Petersburg, Florida
By Berna Ozunal This year, 591 people travelled to St. Petersburg, Florida, for the annual American Copy Editors Society (ACES) conference held from March 23 to 25 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront Hotel—the second-highest attendance ever. I went to St. Pete’s for a few reasons this year: I enjoyed last year’s conference in Portland … Continue reading Report on ACES 2017 in St. Petersburg, Florida
Webinar: A linguist’s guide to grammar
What you learned in English class will help you with syntax about as much as what you learned in driving lessons will help you with mechanics—you get by fine until one day you find yourself stopped in the middle of a sentence with smoke coming out from under the hood. In this webinar, we're going … Continue reading Webinar: A linguist’s guide to grammar
Nitpicker’s Nook: March “it’s almost spring” edition
The Nitpicker’s Nook is a monthly collection of language-related articles, interviews, and blog posts. If you read something that would make a good addition, email your suggestion to [email protected]. Irish editor and “swivel-chair linguist” Stan Carey blogs about how usage snuck/sneaked into The Simpsons. Writer and teacher John Kelly dishes up some fresh hell on … Continue reading Nitpicker’s Nook: March “it’s almost spring” edition
The Nitpicker’s Nook: February edition
The Nitpicker’s Nook is a monthly collection of language-related articles, interviews, and blog posts. If you read something that would make a good addition, email your suggestion to [email protected]. By Carol Harrison Does the current state of world affairs leave you without words? Thankfully Planet Word, the soon-to-be museum of linguistics in Washington, DC, won’t … Continue reading The Nitpicker’s Nook: February edition
The Nitpicker’s Nook: January edition
The Nitpicker’s Nook is a monthly collection of language-related articles, interviews, and blog posts. If you read something that would make a good addition, email your suggestion to [email protected]. By Carol Harrison Forgive me if this is a couple of months old, but it’s funny! Don’t fart in the House. What you should read before … Continue reading The Nitpicker’s Nook: January edition
The Nitpicker’s Nook: December’s linguistic links roundup
The Nitpicker’s Nook is a monthly collection of language-related articles, interviews, and blog posts. If you read something that would make a good addition, email your suggestion to [email protected]. By Carol Harrison ’Tis the season for giving or gifting?: The Atlantic’s Megan Garber argues against gifting. Hey, girl! The analytics website FiveThirtyEight crunches the numbers … Continue reading The Nitpicker’s Nook: December’s linguistic links roundup
The Nitpicker’s Nook: January’s linguistic links roundup
The Nitpicker’s Nook is a monthly collection of language-related articles, interviews, and blog posts from around the web. If you read something that would make a good addition, email your suggestion to [email protected]. By Savanna Scott Leslie For many of us, this January will stand out as the month when the world lost David Bowie and Alan … Continue reading The Nitpicker’s Nook: January’s linguistic links roundup
