Wunderbar! China had a toilet reform movement already a decade or two ago. I remember reading a whole, serious book about how to improve toilet construction and behavior. In fact, I bought a copy and studied it assiduously, but can't put my hands on the volume at this moment. Apparently the toilet improvement campaign is […]
Behind yesterday's post about possible cultural differences in conversational loudness ("Ask Language Log: Loud Americans?" 11/25/2017), there's a set of serious issues in an area that's too frequently ignored: the philosophy of phonetics. [This is an unusually wonkish post on an eccentric topic — you have been warned.]
From Bob Ladd: I have recently become aware that files that in English are too "big" (for example, to send as email attachments) are too "heavy" in French (lourd) and Italian (pesante). Any chance you can post a note asking for the metaphors in all the other languages that LgLog commenters speak? Update — Based […]
From Federico Escobar: An old but ongoing comment/joke among several Spanish speakers I know says that English speakers are particularly loud. It's a gross generalization, I know, but one borne out by countless times in which the voices booming over everyone else's in a restaurant comes from the one table with American tourists. A friend […]
Seen today by Jeff DeMarco in the IFC mall in Hong Kong:
I accidentally texted my wife with voice recognition…while playing the trombone pic.twitter.com/tWCPSXbbrO — Paul The Trombonist (@JazzTrombonist) November 21, 2017
From Michael Carr:
James Wimberley notes that, among the recent additions to the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party, is this section: The basic line of the Communist Party of China in the primary stage of socialism is to lead all the people of China together in a self-reliant and pioneering effort, making economic development the central task, […]
Is there a linguist in your life? Puzzled for a present that might really shiver their timbers? I know it seems like we're all living on a higher plane, laser-focused on abstractions beyond the merely corporeal, but we do enjoy a worldly indulgence now and then. Consider, for example, these beautiful IPA-print scarves (and other […]
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From Dafydd Gibbon: Student at Jinan University, Guangzhou: Professor, what is a spretchy? Me, puzzled: A spretchy? Student: Yes, a spretchy. Me: Sorry, no idea! Student: But you told us to put the results of the experiment into a spretchy! Me, trying to hide a smile: Oh … a spreadsheet …
A friend sent this lifehacker article to me: "Mandarin Chinese Is Now Available on the Language Learning App Duolingo", by Patrick Allan (11/16/17) Duolingo claims that it "is the world's most popular way to learn a language. It's 100% free, fun and science-based. Practice online on duolingo.com or on the apps!" After reading Allan's article, […]
Joe Davidson, "Foreign Service leadership being ‘decapitated’ and ‘depleted at a dizzying speed’", WaPo 11/17/2017: Using “I” 42 times in his 23-minute speech Wednesday, he declared “NATO, believe me, is very happy with Donald Trump and what I did,” as he touted previous accomplishments. Trump’s unmatched self-adulation might cloud his view of the hard work […]