Language and words in the news – 23rd January, 2015

This post contains a selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular.

Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include, or just add a comment to the post, with the link(s) you’d like to share.

Language change and slang

“Ye Olde” Is Fake Old English (And You’re Mispronouncing It Anyway)
Here’s the truth of the matter: phrases like “Ye Olde Shoppe” aren’t really designed to be historically accurate.

“Nope” intensifies, diversifies grammatically
Nope’s just an informal way of saying no, right? Oh no it isn’t.

Patriots will pay for Deflategate, one way or another
Language change in action. A football team uses under-inflated footballs, and a new compound is born (over 4 million hits on Google at the time of writing).

Global English

English Phrases Used Only By Indians Which The World Knows Nothing About
The title is a bit of an exaggeration on both counts, but there are some nice turns of phrase here.

Language teaching and resources

Grammarman
Lots of free resources in comic form.

From a language point of view, what’s happening in Iraq, Syria, and environs has revived words that have not been common for many years. – See more at: http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/language_corner_063014.php?utm_content=buffer811d0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.WQopCEDs.dpufFrom a language point of view, what’s happening in Iraq, Syria, and environs has revived words that have not been common for many years.From a language point of view, what’s happening in Iraq, Syria, and environs has revived words that have not been common for many years..

Books, dictionaries, words and language

Twitter’s Secret Handshake
If the selection of #blacklivesmatter as the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year has got you wondering about the history of hashtags, this article will tell you all you need to know.

Academics are campaigning to bring back so-called dead words, like ‘concinnity’ and ‘bloviate’.
The dictionary is full of characterful words that just need some regular airing to bring them back into popular discourse.

Strong language: a sweary blog about swearing
Not everyone likes swearing. But if you do, this is the blog for you. If you don’t, avoid. It is indeed very sweary.

Cartoon

Examples of the Three Voices in Writing
That would be the active voice, the passive voice, and …

Animation

Interactive map: the OED in two minutes
This animation uses data from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to show how English has developed by borrowing or adapting words from different languages and regions of the world, from 1150 to the present day. Most interesting if you pause it at intervals.