Language Log

Hilary is finished with contrastive focus reduplication, and is now exploring the communicative potential of re-framing rhetorical questions as real ones:

The most recent Widgetitis:

Jan Eliot's Stone Soup for today:

Yesterday's Sally Forth:

A comic-strip question from Rooster Teeth, relayed by reader AB:

The most recent xkcd offers some sound editorial guidance:

Dilbert continues to make progress in learning about conversational implicature and what you can do with it:

In the most recent SMBC, a clever teacher outsmarts herself:

Today's "Candorville," by Darrin Bell:

(As usual, click on the image for a larger version.)

The awful thing about the documentation policy adopted by Amber, who has clearly started a campaign to get Dilbert fired for bullying, is that her idea of taking down what is said at a meeting is to record illocutionary rather than locutionary acts.

The most recent xkcd distills a concentrated essence of word rage and word aversion triggers:

The latest xkcd:

(As usual, click on the image for a larger version.)

Today's Dilbert: