Category Archives: Language

The Secret Languages of English, a guest post by Kristy Evans

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Ed Battistella

The Secret Languages of English Many Americans, particularly those of a younger generation and vernacular, have most likely at one time or another learned or at least heard an alteration of the English language that was used for the purpose … Continue reading →

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The Arguments of Jonathan Swift, a guest post by Cat Seaton

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Ed Battistella

It’s the End of the Term So This Paper is 100% Sassafras Or, The Arguments of Jonathan Swift: Or, More Aptly: Jon Swift Claims to Care about English but is Actually Just Asking for Money Swift is a clever man. … Continue reading →

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MY YEAR OF NEW WORDS, PART 7: NYMS

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Ed Battistella

April is both a personal name and the name of a month. It’s a homonym (a word with two meanings) and nyms are the theme for Jthis post. We’ve got synonyms, acronyms, homonyms (and homophones—which sound alike but spell differently, … Continue reading →

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QUIET WEEK or DEAD WEEK?

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Ed Battistella

It’s QUIET WEEK on my campus—the week before finals, when students hopefully are finishing projects, preparing for exams and writing papers. The idea of QUIET WEEK is to transition gently into finals exams, with instructors not making any last minute … Continue reading →

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Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Ed Battistella

Sarah Ogilvie’s Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary begins by describing her entry into the quiet world of the OED. She had come from of Australian branch of Oxford dictionaries, was a rare linguist … Continue reading →

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The Story of Ain’t

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Ed Battistella

David Skinner’s The Story of Ain’t ain’t just about ain’t. It’s the tale of the making of Webster’s Third International Dictionary, the wonderfully controversial flashpoint in the cultural wars between realists and snoots. I wondered what Skinner would add to … Continue reading →

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Arithmetic Depends on Grammar

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Ed Battistella

If you get all of the presents in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many presents do you get? 364 (because of the AND) Here’s the formula: ((1 x 12)+ (2 x 11)+(3 x 10)+(4 x 9)+(5 x … Continue reading →

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Deep (structure) thoughts

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Ed Battistella

It’s Noam Chomsky’s birthday, and through a combination of serendipity and procrastination I’ve just finished a mini-review of Chomsky’s Linguistics (ed. by Peter Graff and Coppe van Urk and published by the MIT Working Papers in Linguistics. It’s a 700 … Continue reading →

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What does “clean” mean?

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Ed Battistella

Over the summer, my wife and I visited Don Aslett’s Museum of Clean in Pocatello, Idaho. It’s a six-floor 75,000 square foot museum devoted to the art of cleaning. The Museum is the brainchild of Don Aslett, the founder and … Continue reading →

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Deregulating English

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Ed Battistella

I’ve finished up my summer session class on the History of the English Language (hence my blogging hiatus). In the last class meeting though, a student introduced a new metaphor I need to think more about. Jamey Strathman talked about … Continue reading →

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