Language Log

Following up on our discussion of faxes and pdfs ("Obsolete communications technology", 7/13/2020), an even older textual transmission method is featured in the punch line of today's Doonesbury:

I recently learned a new word:  nurdles. These are plastic resin pellets, typically 1-5 mm in size, created as an intermediate stage in plastics production. Losses in production and transportation apparently  make them a major contribution to marine pollution. I learned this word from reading about two environmental activists in Louisiana who have been charged […]

From Aman ur Rahman: (Face)

The actress Qin Lan, who is best known for her role in the wildly popular TV drama "Story of Yanxi Palace", said this in an interview: “People have been asking me why I’m not getting married, and some have even suggested it’s ‘irresponsible’ if I don’t have a baby. I think it’s strange. “What’s it […]

Tongliao 通辽市; Mongolian: Tüŋliyou qota, Mongolian Cyrillic.Түнляо хот) is a prefecture-level city in eastern Inner Mongolia, PRC.  The news is not good.  It follows a familiar pattern:  there's a similar story about suspending Tibetan-language education in a part of Sichuan following the covid-19 closure of schools. It sounds plausible since notification was given verbally, typical […]

The first of eight in a partial survey: Typefaces of Protest: A Short Survey 1/ Paranoid Light pic.twitter.com/MSuBYvDvp1 — Tom Sutcliffe (@tds153) July 13, 2020 See the whole thread.

From Alex Baumans: Recently a supermarket of this ecofriendly chain opened in my neighborhood. As the initiative seems to be francophone, I suppose the name is a superposition of the French 'ferme' and English 'farm' by way of German spelling. What struck me most was their unbounded enthusiasm for putting little dots on vowels. I […]

[This is a guest post by Doug Hitch] I have had a theory for a number of years about the success of the IE (now Yamnaya) people in populating the world. Here I would like to survey some of the basic reasons for their demographic spread. Populations in all species prosper when there is adequate […]

Dmitry Ostrovsky reacted to a litotic sentence in Bari Weiss's resignation letter: "None of this means that some of the most talented journalists in the world don’t still labor for this newspaper." Dmitry's email: This strikes me as very odd. It is not a simple "arithmetic" misnegation, if "none of this means that" and "don't" […]

[The following is a guest post by Douglas Adams.] Key words:  Eastern Central Asia (ECA); Tarim Basin; Dzungarian Basin; Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) Anatolian; Proto-Indo-European; “standard average Indo-European” (“SAIE”); Hittite; Iranian; Sogdian; Khotanese; Bactrian; Avestan; Saka; Indo-Aryan; Mitanni; Assyrian; Indo-Hittite; Fertile Crescent: Yamnaya; Sintashta; Andronovo; Afanasievo; Minusinsk Basin; Qäwrighul; genetics; Yanqi Basin; Ili Valley; Yuezhi; […]

"Trump Wanted to Sell Puerto Rico After Hurricane", Political Wire 7/11/2020: President Trump raised the possibility of selling hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico to his Secretary of Homeland Security in late 2017, the New York Times reports.

"Choke Point for U.S. Coronavirus Response: The Fax Machine", NYT 7/13/2020: The machine at the Harris County Public Health department recently became overwhelmed when one laboratory sent a large batch of test results, spraying hundreds of pages all over the floor. “Picture the image of hundreds of faxes coming through, and the machine just shooting […]

From an anonymous correspondent: An amusing translation glitch: Google translates the Japanese word "migaku 磨く" (to polish, to brush) to the French word "polonais" (Polish, as in "of Poland"). The full translation party: "migaku 磨く" → "polonais" → "kenma 研磨" (polishing, grinding) → "polissage" (proper French for polishing).