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September 9, 2011 @ 11:59 am
· Filed under Dialects, Variation, Words words words
Grammar Girl (aka Mignon Fogarty) has posted a podcast today about the "needs washed" regionalism, which is mostly associated with the North Midland dialect region of the U.S. Though her goal is to provide prescriptive advice about when it's appropriate to use the "need + V-en" construction, she has conducted some nice data collection from […]
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January 10, 2021 @ 10:36 am
· Filed under Peeving, Syntax
I've been resisting topics like "words for coup" and "the meaning of insurrection" — we'll see how long that resolve lasts — but this morning's distraction is the rebirth of something I wrote about many years ago, namely an online service for identifying instances of passive-voice verbs. In my review of 'The Passivator" (4/6/2004), I […]
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March 8, 2018 @ 7:57 pm
· Filed under Dialects, Language and the movies, Variation
My Wall Street Journal column this week looks at the history of the word rider, inspired by Frances McDormand's cryptic use of the phrase "inclusion rider" at the end of her acceptance speech at the Oscars on Sunday, after she won the Best Actress award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. (Link to WSJ column […]
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March 13, 2017 @ 4:29 pm
· Filed under Dialects, Language and politics
Ohio Gov. John Kasich grew up in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, just down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, and has retained many dialect features from the Pittsburgh region. Notably, Kasich, like others from the area, would say "The car needs washed" rather than "The car needs to be washed" or "The car needs washing." (The Yale […]
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January 15, 2016 @ 1:11 am
· Filed under Dialects, Language and politics
In the latest GOP presidential debate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich used a regionalism not often heard in national politics. From the Washington Post transcript: And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be […]
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May 25, 2011 @ 1:57 pm
· Filed under Dialects, Language and politics, Variation, Words words words
Today's political buzz is all about the win by Democrat Kathy Hochul in New York's 26th congressional district, encompassing suburbs northeast of Buffalo and west of Rochester. National issues, particularly the debate over Medicare, played a big part in the race, but local factors were key as well, with the Republican candidate, Jane Corwin, losing […]
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January 24, 2011 @ 7:00 am
· Filed under passives, Prescriptivist poppycock, Syntax, Usage advice
Numerous Language Log posts by me, Mark Liberman, and Arnold Zwicky among others have been devoted to mocking people who denigrate the passive without being able to identify it (see this comprehensive list of Language Log posts about the passive). It is clear that some people think The bus blew up is in the passive; […]
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