Ladies, Gentlemen, and English usage
Recently I have been re-reading James Thurber’s “Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Guide to English Usage”, a parody of Henry Watson Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage. The parody is built around a central conceit: that a language usage guide is equivalent to lifestyle or relationship advice. This is not merely a conceit around which to build a parody; it is also a fair assessment of what usage guides are used for.
On Free Will
A light-hearted dialogue on the meaning of “free will”, inspired by Karl Smith at Modeled Behavior.
Whorf and invented languages
Nice interview with Arika Okrent on her new book “In the Land of Invented Languages” including a good description of the Whorf Hypothesis and an in depth discussion of a variety of invented languages.
Linguistic Anthropology Roundup #12
Many things happening with SLA members…
Basic Color Terms + Gender Stereotypes
The perfect cartoon for teaching Deborah Cameron and Berlin and Kay
