There should be grave national concern about one of Britain’s leading economic sectors and chief export earners shedding tens of thousands of often skilled relatively well paid jobs. Universities are also key to local and regional economies across the country.

Bill Watterson is my favorite cartoonist. I adored the relationship btw Calvin and Hobbes as a child. But as I've gotten older, these strips feel even more tender and insightful. My respect for him grew when I learned of his stance against merchandising. Such principles are almost unheard of today.

Today’s activities: an all-day meeting to decide how specifically to make our surviving degree courses worse, the general outlines already having been imposed (fewer modules, fewer hours per module, fewer assessments, fewer subject modules, fewer academics).

The 2025 Word of the Year is "slop," both as a noun for low-quality AI-generated content and as a combining form for anything of little value. Read the full press release. #WOTY2025 #ADS2026 #LSA2026 americandialect.org/2025-word-of...

The Norwegian Nobel Prize committee has been forced to make a statement, declaring that the prize cannot be transferred. It's hard even to comprehend how stupid this has become

Cold start in Portsmouth today.

Also this is an interesting story: www.theguardian.com/world/2023/j...

The glottal stop is probably one of the simplest, yet interesting, sounds in language. https://aboutlinguistics.com/explore/what-is-a-glottal-stop/ #linguistics #language #phonetics #glottalstop

one of four in a week www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/n...

Some words affect us more than others. It boils down to how they sound #Science #Language #Linguistics #Psycholinguistics #Communication #Science #Cognition #Memory #Words #Speech #Education #InformationTheory #The14 #The14Media the-14.com/some-words-a...

I've been part of a team contributing to this project about understanding young people's experiences of high-follower TikTok influencer accounts posting about mental health. Excited to be chairing the Mental Elf webinar in the new year: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wtf-this-i... #qualitative #linguistics

This is my cyclical reminder that there's really only one consistently reliable source of info in the public record that isn't owned by right wing billionaires, who really want to put an end to it. Please give at least the $2.75 minimum they request if you can. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Reflecting on Brexit during all these Erasmus reports it's sad to consider how many people must have decided 'let's leave just in case' rather than 'let's stay just in case' when they were clearly confused and didn't know half of what the EU does.

How are GPs using #AI, what worries them the most about it, and what should happen next if #GeneralPractice is to harness the benefits from AI? Read the latest blog from our Director of Research and Policy, @becksfisher.bsky.social 👇

Very happy to find a @mydogsighs.bsky.social piece in the wild today!!

Twice in two weeks, first in Germany then in England last week, I have spoken with friends who work at pro-refugee NGOs who have experienced multiple recent attacks on their offices.

Interesting piece on why accents can change in adulthood, touching on geography, identity, prestige, intelligibility, professional status, and other social forces 🗣💬

'In ‘Wicked,’ the name Elphaba is a playful adaptation of Baum’s initials, ‘L. F. B.’ igvofficial.com/film-tv/peop...

IwY2xjawOag2FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFwSkhuZ0MxMXg1WHQyRFFJc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkYjmVRla7oLVnvVF_4ZMahjUBWEWZKz5GwE Corpus Linguistics and Technology-Mediated Language Education in the AI Era - looks good.

My first proper blog post for @globalmarhist.bsky.social 🙌🏻 This is the source I repeatedly return to when I teach others about Caribbean slavery. There is so much that can be gleaned from this source alone. My post discusses some of the features!

If you want some good news this morning, I showed my three boys the PM doing the six/seven thing and now they have all stopped doing it.

Oops Aitch is spreading a folk etymology of 'scran' on I'm a Celebrity. The idea it was an acronym of 'Sultanas, Currants, Raisins And Nuts' is widely seen as false. Other ideas suggest it could be from Dutch 'schranzen' to consume or Old Norse 'skran' for rubbish. The origin is not clear.

“These results show that current AI systems are not yet capable of supporting low-resource languages.” www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/09...

Provides rich data on the sound systems and word structures of Australian Indigenous languages The Phonology and Morphology of Australian Languages by Brett J. Baker (@unimelb.bsky.social) & Mark Harvey #LangSky 🐦🐦 #Linguistics #Australia https://cup.org/4oaht78

The dudes who go “WhErE’s iNteRnaTioNaL MENS DaY??” every Women’s Day are REALLY quiet today

www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/tea... I was curious how 'T' or 'tea' came to mean gossip.

Nine-in-ten U.S. adults say they at least sometimes come across news they think is inaccurate, but they are split over how easy it is to distinguish truth from fiction. www.pewresearch.org/...

Do you use TikTok for professional stuff? Is it good for research or academia?

There's a journal called "Linguistics", which is different from the journal "Journal of Linguistics". There's also the journal "Language" which is different from the journal "Languages". Obviously we need to establish the "Journal of Language" and "Journal of Languages" to finish this mess. 🐦🐦

Are you, or someone you know, looking for a PhD, starting in Oct 2026? Do you like bacteria, genomics & puzzles?🦠🧬🧩 Do you wanna work in a cutting edge of science, with some awesome people @quadraminstitute.bsky.social? Please apply or share by 2 Dec 🗓️ #PhDposition #academicsky Find out more ⬇️

Repetition builds mental habits. If you tell yourself ‘I’m terrible at this’ often enough, your brain strengthens that connection and recalls it faster each time. Replacing the phrase with something like ‘I’m still learning’ helps create a new, healthier pathway. #linguistics #mindfulness

We are looking for new committee members! If you would like to join the BAAL Corpus SIG as Meetings Secretary or as an Ordinary Member, please get in touch! You can learn more about the SIG at our website:

We are pleased to announce that the Call for Papers for next year’s PALA conference at Uppsala is now out: www.uu.se/en/departmen.... We look forward to receiving your abstract!

Where is a good place to start to find funding/bursaries for US undergrad programmes? Asking for my sister's friend.

🧪 PhD opp on mental distress & opioid tapering via the Midlands MHN PhD Programme for Healthcare Professionals! 🎓 ✅ 3 yrs on NHS salary (backfill funded) ✅ Fees, research, training & travel 💡 Up to 0.2 FTE clinical work #PhD #MentalHealth #Bigdata #Opioids 🔗 midlandsmhndtp.ac.uk/project/2026...

I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Octopus in Yoruba is apparently "Ayéfófo" or more recently "ẹja ẹlẹsẹ mẹjọ." The latter literally means the eight-legged fish. When consumed as meat, it's called "fọ́ntọ́nfọ́ntọ́n", which I personally translate as "eww! yuck! Squishy!"

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Mmm still confused - let me keep reading.