Now that friends are avoiding carbs, it's pretty much impossible to think of gifts to bring to US from UK. The carbs are what make Britain Great.

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series *really @ascotdad.bsky.social VOMMED Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

Yeesh. I mean, you can call your restaurant whatever you like without us having to take seriously that the food is from that part of the world*, but "Hillbilly Loaf"? h/t @rogerokeeffe.bsky.social

“Most of the cast have American accents and use modern language, in contrast to the more traditional way people are depicted as speaking in historical dramas.” I expect to be able to hear that eighth-century-BCE Ionian accent as they chant dactylic hexameter.

It's a revelation that you can search in JSTOR for journal articles published before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Can't wait to dig into the dialectology of those days.

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series POLLARD** *really @jeffgrim.bsky.social **illustration here of past tense, to avoid the surname Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

behold "The Listening Museum" ... ... which has samples of the sounds of 36 famous clicky keyboards you can pick a model, type away, and hear the glorious noise item #2 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: buttondown.com/clivethompso...

'Introducing Lexicons of English Religion, 1380–1850', a new blog by Jeremy J. Smith, author of LEXICONS OF ENGLISH RELIGION, 1380–1850 📚 https://cup.org/4v3E9ct

I was confused when I 1st encountered yellow stripey stinging things in the UK: the things people were calling 'wasps' did not have a waspy body (see paper wasp and dirt dauber, aka mud dauber below). Turned out that AmE 'yellow jackets' are just 'wasps' elsewhere: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowj...

Should start a podcast called There's No Such Thing as a Two Point Poll Lead, which is just me sobbing every week about the number of pollsters reporting non-statistically significant differences as meaningful.

Another Ohio State masterclass.

So many ways to parse this...

Gruesome tableau is an objectively beautiful phrase and it's a real shame that the only time you'd ever have reason to say it is if you happened upon a gruesome tableau.

No one's ever made a jelly in the shape of Donald Trump before so I feel like I'm setting a really bad president.

Similarly, I had an email that started “sure, here’s a version of team message with added empathy” the other week. Have to say, the team did not feel more empathised with.

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me: An Occasional Series LARDON (is this really the first time it's been denied to me? seems like we should have had it before!) Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

What has America ever done for us? ft.trib.al/9IH7dmT | opinion

Must be ok if @lynneguist.bsky.social is quoted. www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

🎶Mel does Frank!🎶 www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sdf...

It's still June, so here's June's newsletter—lots of shouting, lots of links! lynneguist.substack.com/p/getting-sh...

In my recent blog post, I find myself encroaching on @byagoda.bsky.social's turf—looking at AmE use of the BrE SHOUTY! separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/06/shou...

I wrote about the #language of #heatwaves in 2022, when the extreme temperatures arrived not at the beginning of summer but at the end... language-and-innovation.com/2022/08/08/t...

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series WIBBLE *really @geoffboycottsgran.bsky.social Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

If your college degree trains you for a specific job and that job goes in the toilet, you are FUCKED If your college degree trains you to be a broadly capable person, you have options!

Tim Dowling: After 35 years in the UK, I’m still getting lost in translation

🇬🇧🇺🇸 @lynneguist.bsky.social on US usage of the "very British word" shouty separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/06/shou...

Anyone interested in debates about food types and where one category starts blending into another will love this old blogpost from @lynneguist.bsky.social about "prototypical soup" separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/02/prot...

We’re really gonna regret wasting the name “Watergate,” huh

NEW BLOG POST! Who or what is SHOUTY???!!! separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/06/shou...

In the late 1970s, the car rental company Avis commissioned a special stick-on cover, before providing new staff with a copy of ‘How it Works the Motor Car’. This was to ease staff embarrassment at being seen reading a Ladybird book.

We're hiring @warwick-smlc.bsky.social Assistant Prof in Language Technologies and AI Governance Permanent post, Sept 2026 start. We want researchers working at the intersection of language, technology, and society. Languages as your home, take a look. Closing: 23 July www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRY964/a...

Middle English 'ER > AR' shift: Sound and spelling changed: barn, darling, farthing, farm, harbour, parson (= person), star, starboard, start, varsity (= university) Sound but not spelling: Berkshire (UK), clerk (UK), sergeant ~ as discussed in 'Why Q Needs U', Chapter R

🧠 How does one brain speak 2 #languages? A new study of #bilingual speakers suggests that a single “grammatical engine” in the brain can power multiple languages at once nytimes.com/2026/06/15/s... via @nytimes.com

This map shows the 30 US cities where the state name may be omitted by journalists in reporting. Fair call about Oklahoma City by the way.... Source: buff.ly/Nj9zBGM

‘Father’ and ‘dad’ are synonyms. ‘Figure’ and ‘bod’ are synonyms. But, a ‘father figure’ and a ‘dad bod’ aren’t exactly the same thing…

I’m not picky. I just want to die on a hill.

[with tears in my eyes] dudes rock

They come to America for five minutes and they figure out our men suck.

@secondmentions.com 'The not immediately appealing but downright delicious Scottish delicacy' www.euronews.com/culture/2026...

Fwiw, after 26 yrs in UK, ‘Kind regards’ still hits me like it hits the US lawyer quoted here: www.legalcheek.com/2026/06/us-l...

The first handful of citations for FOOTBALL from the OED alone are fascinating. And brutal. The game was seen as violent and base—and therefore was often banned. Plus, the earliest known cite, from 1409, mentions FOOTBALL (‘foteballe’) alongside ... COCK-THRASHING (‘cokthresshyng’)!

cc @stronglang.bsky.social

My kingdom for a UK leader who will say "immigrants are a key part of our communities, they are our neighbours, friends, colleagues, partners. We will not tolerate racist and fascist violence against them" and who is willing to walk the walk of defending us. Without "legitimate concerns"-ing it.

Same pattern as driv-- licen{c/s}e.

Like British 'toilet' and unlike American 'toilet'. Old post from me: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/03/toil...

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me: An Occasional Series LONGLIFE (more usually hyphenated, but single-word in good numbers in BrE) Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

Just for the avoidance of doubt, any cuts on student numbers will almost certainly disproportionately affect WP and student groups that are *already* underrepresented. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the current financial crisis is really a Widening Participation crisis.