This post contains a weekly 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 and language change. Please contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include.
Global English
Refiguring Obama’s rhetoric: the balancing act.
On the night he was elected president, we revealed that Barack Obama’s Secret for Stirring a Crowd was the classical rhetorical device of tricolon.
American English or British English?
Why should I turn myself into a pitiful defender of the vestigial remnants of British linguistic imperialism?
The Gospel according to Holden.
Salinger himself, as well as his most famous character, has influenced pop culture, crime—even modern linguistics.
Aussie accent ‘ever evolving’.
The researchers have already found that a distinctive form of Australian English exists, a regional English dialect that has been shaped by the nation’s geographical location.
German and English Word of the Year 2009 — from Lexiophiles
Language Change and Slang
On language and the Facebook friend.
The concept of the Facebook friend allows us to linguistically and socially bridge the gap between the concepts of the acquaintance and the friend.
The Keypad Solution.
Here is a long and noble history of trying to change the English language’s notoriously illogical system of spelling.
What a queer language.
As many schoolboys and students know, unintended innuendo can be found in the most unexpected of places and can lend a certain mischievous serendipity to otherwise dull lessons and lectures.
Wocial.
The (awkward) combination of working and socializing. [W(ork)+(S)ocial]
Clever new words and meanings.
Balderdash , n. A rapidly receding hairline.
Improve your English
Research could dismay English language purists.
Should a mafia gangster sleep with the fishes – or should that be sleep with the fish?
Vocab Ahead adds self-assessment quizzes.
Now students can use the Vocab Ahead study rooms to take practice vocabulary quizzes.
The web way to learn a language.
What classes, we wondered, had she attended to learn the language so well?
Do you make these mistakes when speaking?
These are just a few of the common mistakes that we all make in our conversations, our letters, and in our emails. There is little value in perfection, but there is enormous value in constant improvement.
Books, words, science and the history of language
Seven places to find free eBooks.
The 10 strangest books in the English language.
Driving affects language – no kidding.
Book: Travel destination about words as much as place.
Pilgrim in the palace of words. A journey through the 6,000 languages of Earth.
Video: Pay attention – final cut.
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