The video embedded in this article features North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un speaking at the historic summit meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone yesterday: "Hang on, what language is Kim Jong-un speaking? Livestreaming reveals that the North Korean leader has a unique ‘Swiss-influenced’ accent, a result of his years […]
One of the most effective intellectual memes of the past century has been deconstruction — déconstruction in the original French. It recently occurred to me to wonder whether the word, as well as its interpretation, was created by Jacques Derrida, who introduced the contemporary usage in three works published in 1967: twice in La voix et […]
Or does it? Bret Stephens, "Bush 41, Trump, and American Decline", NYT 4/26/2018: These contrasts don’t mean that Bush was without blemish: As Meacham notes, there were political misjudgments and calculated concessions to ambition on the long path to power. Nor does it mean that Trump doesn’t lack his own kind of strengths, not the […]
When I started taking Mandarin in the fall of 1967, one of the first words we learned was "Zhōngguó rén 中國人". A classmate of mine translated that as "Chinaman", provoking our teaching assistant to reprimand him severely, saying that it was a racist term, and to give him a stern lecture about the history of […]
From Lane Greene at The Economist, "The ban on split infinitives is an idea whose time never came," with boldfacing by yours truly: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW was once so angry with a subeditor that he complained to the newspaper. “I ask you, sir,” Shaw wrote, “to put this man out.” The cause of his fury? […]
Caitlin MacNeil, "Jackson Considers Withdrawing As VA Nominee As New Allegations Surface", TPM 4/26/2018: Jackson denied the allegation that he crashed a government vehicle while drunk on Wednesday evening and told reporters he would press on in the confirmation process.
Today's xkcd: Mouseover title: "Hi, I'm your new meteorologist and a former software developer. Hey, when we say 12pm, does that mean the hour from 12pm to 1pm, or the hour centered on 12pm? Or is it a snapshot at 12:00 exactly? Because our 24-hour forecast has midnight at both ends, and I'm worried we […]
Non Sequitur for 4/25/2018: Exercise for readers: Is the order "Live and Learn" motivated by meaning or sound?
In the recent decision enjoining the suspension of DACA (but giving the government a 90-day mulligan), the court referred to the people who are affected by DACA’s suspension as “undocumented aliens” rather than “illegal aliens,” and it dropped a footnote explaining why it made that choice: Some courts, including the Supreme Court, have referred to […]
For years I've noticed a regular Language Log commenter whose moniker is "maidhc". Since LL commenters often have the weirdest, most sui generis nicknames, I usually don't pay too much attention to them (not even when it's "Bathrobe" or "siweiluozi" or whatever). But this "maidhc" bugged me because I couldn't figure out how to pronounce […]
Watching the embedded video in this article, "Korean Air Chairman Fires Two Daughters Over Rage Incidents" (Bloomberg News [April 22, 2018, 8:45 PM EDT]), my attention was drawn to the word "gapjil" — arrogance by people in power, especially those from family-run conglomerates. The reporter pronounces "gapjil" as though it were "kapjil", at least to […]
There's a university in Wales with this name: Evidently "prifysgol" means "university". Etymology From prif- (“chief”) + ysgol (“school”). Noun prifysgol f (plural prifysgolion) university
The news about sexism in China's high tech industry is out and it's all over the internet: Huge numbers of job postings in China specify 'men only' or dictate women's appearance (TechCrunch) Chinese tech giants, government under fire for 'men only' job ads (Reuters) HRW: 'Men only' job ads show ongoing discrimination in China (Associated Press) China […]