Language Log

Viral video of two corgis exchanging angry barks:

Last year, poor Peppa was banned from the airwaves, online video channels, and movie theaters in China after she fell afoul of the censors for allegedly associating with gangsta characters. "Peppa Pig has been purged" (5/2/18) Now she's been rehabilitated, and just in time: "Peppa Pig to celebrate Chinese New Year with special film", Kylie Knott, […]

[This is a guest post by Nathan Hopson] I just came across perhaps the strangest kanji compound in the entire 20+ years since I started learning Japanese: 御御御付 (おみおつけ omiotsuke) Bottom line: it's miso soup.

I am in the Czech Republic for lectures and meetings with colleagues.  This morning I climbed up to the gigantic oppidum at the top of a steep hill outside Prague near the little town of Zbraslav. Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome, and applied more […]

Anne Henochowicz spotted this sign in a shopping mall in Central, Hong Kong:

All I have time for this afternoon: David, this internet thing will never catch on… 🤦‍♀️ #davidbowie @timberners_lee pic.twitter.com/XKoSBVqZGU — BBC Radio 6 Music (@BBC6Music) January 13, 2019

From Diana S. Zhang, apropos of the recent post "Miscellaneous bacteria":

We've seen many a polysyllabic Sinograph on Language Log (check the Readings below).  The one presented here is perhaps more creative and intriguing than any previously encountered: 「システム」って書こうとするとどうしても「テ」と「ム」が繋がってしまうので新しい漢字を提案したい。 pic.twitter.com/5VDywtulId — おおひなたごう (@gooohinata) January 10, 2019

Three days ago, we saw how the group named Apink wrote the Korean phrase “eung-eung 응응” (“yes”, “okay”, or “uh huh”) as %% for the title of their hit single:  "Visual puns in K-pop" (1/10/19). Now comes another famous K-pop song called "T T" (Roman letter T):

Jack Shafer, "Week 86: FBI’s Blockbuster Probe of Trump’s Loyalty Revealed", Politico 1/12/2018: Thanks to a redaction error made in a legal filing by convicted felon Paul Manafort’s lawyers, we learned that special counsel Mueller believes that former Trump campaign director Paul Manafort lied about passing, in spring 2016, political polling data to two Russia-aligned Ukrainian oligarchs he had […]

From the Hakka Affairs Council in Taiwan: (Source)

Jeff DeMarco spotted this menu item at the Splendid China attraction in Shenzhen:

Here's what it looks like: