Time for a selection of language links. Most are recent, some aren’t, all are good. Until next week, happy browsing!
Grotesque alphabet at BibliOdyssey.
Typos aren’t bad grammar.
Oxford commas and Chicago style.
Literary devices (cartoon).
Wrack or rack? It’s complicated.
The mystery of Edinburgh’s anonymous book art [update: continued!].
A language joke walks into a bar.
What are linking verbs?
“I’ve learned to give up when I hear Brooklyn in your voice.”
Some tips for self-editing.
Spaghetti or lasagne for linguists.
Celebrate Dudesgiving with Wordnik’s word soup.
Balinese: a language of many politeness levels.
The elusive ‘misplaced only’.
The politics of grammar and usage.
Phrases gone astray in the NYT newsroom.
When it’s OK to correct grammar online.
The phonetic taste of coffee.
Does Google Translate speak “like a 10-year-old“?
Lost in translation: Lonely Planet‘s top picks.
Jean Aitchison, Language Change (Ch. 1, PDF).
Sentence first 
My personal practice is to always use rack. And to split infinitives whenever. And to stay out of bars. Umm, my personal practices are …. No.
In my opinion, “Google Translate” should not be allowed. It totally betrays the text it pretends to translate. I’m horrified by what it does not only to literature but to the news. I refuse to use it.
I see so many typos on facebook and in emails, I often wonder if people really care anymore. It bothers me only if I am the one making the mistakes!
As always, thank you for the post, Stan.
[…] away, just as much by the artworks as by the story. However, I only read this story here, after Stan here linked to it, so it might not be real at all. I don’t really care, it made me smile […]
John: I have yet to settle on so straightforward a rack/wrack policy. Luckily I don’t find myself writing (or editing) either word very often, or I might find myself falling down the same endless rabbit hole.
Claude: Google Translate might not do a very good job yet (I think these examples will amuse you), but it will probably improve in time. I think it has moderate practical value for people without access to a translator, so long as they don’t expect it to be very reliable.
Hey, I’m glad you liked the discussion of linking verbs. There’s a new column up tomorrow on present perfect vs simple past. You can preview it here: http://tesltoronto.org/grammarology-2-0-present-perfect-vs-past-tense
Thanks for your visit, Brett. I did enjoy it, and I appreciate the link to your new article. Looking forward now to next year’s series!