I’m overdue another batch of links, so here it is! These are language-related posts and stories and pictures that appealed to me lately. Most are recent; a few I dug up from the archives. Some of them you might already have read (especially if you follow me on Twitter), but I hope you’ll find something new and interesting.
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A noisy alphabet.
Japanese emoticons.
Is towards heading toward disuse?
Chasing pigeons and language acquisition.
What’s the difference between but and though?
So what’s noo: Do you drop your yod?
How to speak hip in 1959.
English has a few new determinatives.
Are there linguistic differences between the sexes?
English is not a parade, and you are not the drum major.
On being persuaded about convince.
The etymythology of nerd.
Names for “@” around the world.
Blogs in indigenous and minority languages.
The colour of vowel sounds: a synaesthesia experiment.
How language contact changes language (PDF).
Three logicians walk into a bar.
The origins of music genre names.
Another excellent set of links Stan! I love the one regarding the names for the @ symbol across the world.
Perhaps if Arthir C Clarke was still alive he would have written the Nine Billions Names of @. What happens once all nine billion words are published is another matter. Perhaps the internet wiill wink out of existence!
You have the beginnings of a story there, Jams – an online virus, maybe, using @ to hop from user to user and infect the entire net!
Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ
＼（＾ ＾）／
I’ve already shared this on Twitter but might as well add it here: my test page for the llama font: http://llamafont.com/llamafied/4bxy
[Transcript: “There once was a font full of llamas whose poses conveyed many dramas.“]
The site doesn’t display messages longer than this, which saved me the bother of deciding how it should end. Perhaps something like: “Politely they asked for additional grass, but this frightened away all the farmers.” But I’m sure you can improve on that.
Thanks, Dragon. I’ll have a go at an alternative conclusion. It’s not an improvement on yours, but it will do:
There once was a font full of llamas
Whose poses conveyed many dramas.
Their style? Let me see now –
Like plump Palatino
Or Comic Sans wearing pyjamas.