Language Log

By lexicographical synchronicity, the latest Widgetitis illustrates the developing distinction between alpha and beta nerds, while Ben Zimmer discusses the history of the word and the concept ("Birth of the nerd: The mysterious origins of a familiar character", Boston Globe 8/28/2011.)

The most recent SMBC presents an updated chemical version of the classic "Who's on first" skit. I think that Zach Weiner does a better job of setting the joke up than Abbott and Costello did:

A root haughtiness constraint in English derivational morphology? The latest PartiallyClips strip:

An old argument, in today's Get Fuzzy:

Today's Sheldon takes Contrastive Focus Reduplication up a notch:

[Tip of the hat to David Craig]

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: