Names for the three-in-a-row game, around the world… *Tic-tac-toe (US) *Noughts and crosses (UK) *Crosses and buns (Denmark) *Butter, cheese and eggs (Netherlands) *Sausages (Latvia) *Cat (Mexico) *Game of the old lady (Brazil) *Tripp-trapp-tresko (Norway) *Pubic louse (France) *Hobo chess (Sweden)

My September newsletter is out now, with links to lots of good stuff and a couple of linguisticky pics from my trip to Guangzhou: open.substack.com/pub/lynnegui...

At the start of each academic year, I routinely ask my lexicology students how many of them own a paper dictionary. Last year it was 1 (English/Albanian). I also ask how many would be willing to pay to use a reputable online dictionary. Zero for the last few years. That's *lexicology* students right

Stefan Fatsis on the current state of American lexicography www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Longer words and real reflection: the science behind a convincing apology

In Norway, if you want to change your surname to a name held by fewer than 200 people, you must get permission from all of them.

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

I've been away from Bluesky for a couple of weeks—in Guangzhou, China. Back in Brighton furiously preparing for the new semester.* *and procrastinating on social media

There's going to be a math(s) lecture at Cambridge on "two cultures separated by a common language". But no more info at the site. Which cultures, I wonder? www.maths.cam.ac.uk/research/tal...

New blog post: would you be caught dead reading it? separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/09/caug...

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

New blog post: would you be caught dead reading it? separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/09/caug...

Took advantage of the summer lull to run the final, official tallies of the 2024 US prez election -- including Alaska this time -- through the #AmericanNations model. Bottom line: despite the astronomical stakes, it was very much like two elections before it. www.nationhoodlab.org/the-2024-pre...

Good morning, Bubble.

Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me: An Occasional Series BOLLOCKS HOBS [it's a rare S day!] Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...

I do recall a Britishperson once declaring themself entirely unable to understand why I didn't hear a legit rhyme in: I know that quite sincerely Housman really Wrote the Shropshire Lad about the boy. Like, because I'm an American?

current contemplation: that in a British musical, “thought” legitimately rhymes with “support”

Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival

Erasmus redux? Happy news if it happens.

The words 'fluent', 'fluid', and 'influence' come from the Latin verb 'fluere', which means "to flow". 'Fluere' and 'to flow' look very similar, so they must be etymologically related, right? No! They're entirely unrelated. 'To flow' is related to 'pluere' (to rain) instead. Here's how we know:

"... there’s a whole set of research in linguistics - around language development, typical patterns in children’s writing, what happens at different ages and stages - that’s more or less not thought about" www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Thank you @brendannyhan.bsky.social & @jasonreifler.bsky.social for this impt research which illustrates that getting out *ahead* of rumors & lies about elections — instead of simply responding w/ fact-checking afterwards — is essential. We must tell the truth about how elections are actually run.

You spelled ENDANGERING wrong, @nytimes.com. “Pushing the boundaries” is a *positive* frame implying unconventional innovations. There are no innovations here. Just medieval anti-science populist attacks on some of best methods of truth seeking we have.

It’s long past time you all stopped using “Congress” when you mean “Republicans”. Not a single Democrat voted for this hot mess of an appointment. This endless grind to maintain a non-partisan tone, despite the partisanship of our fascist reality, is willfully blind, & a betrayal of your country.

So I told Google I didn't want AI mode, and now, suspciously, I have to explicitly ask for Wikipedia articles in order for them to show up on the first page of my search results. Hmmmm.

Why I do what I do: met a former palliative care nurse & was describing how devout Muslims can hold up a single finger to represent the Shahadah if they're unable to speak. She'd never heard of this. "I wonder how many times nurses see this, think someone is agitated, and drug them."

Our "language and literature across the lifespan" conference (Fri 12 Dec) has expanded to include an interdisciplinary half-day symposium on Thurs 11 Dec, with perspectives from literature and life-writing, (socio)linguistics, and psychology. All details at lifespan.unamur.be!

There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.

Check this shit out motherfucker *embargoes own country*

OMG I've just found the videos my teacher used to play to us when I started learning English in Argentina. I was 8 or 9 (most of my classmates were a few years older). I know why we were never excited about the video sessions. I'm a bit shocked to watch it now. youtu.be/PGiNjI1j2P4?...

76% of Brits support EU youth mobility scheme. 👏👏👏 Time to remove the Brexit blockade on our youth.

TIL: 'push present' I wish I hadn't.

It's my August newsletter: packed full of languagey, booky, mappy things to read, do, and think about. substack.com/home/post/p-...

The workshop is introduced by Phillipe Schlenker, who talks about three semantic systems in nature: compositional semantics, iconic semantic and featural semantics. "Trivial" compositionality can be shown in non-human animals, but compositionality proper is much more difficult to show.

A #LinguisticLandscape request!

Bought a tiny gift to send to a friend who is ill. Then this happened. Sorry, friend. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

COOL AMERICAN FLAVOR Very interesting potato chip #LinguisticLandscape here!

"Are asylum seekers the biggest political issue in Britain?" Asks radio 4. "We interview man who is determined to make it the biggest issue in Britain. And make it a headline every morning until it definitely is"

"respecting the glittering diversity of languages emigrants bring to the UK. We wrongly dictate that assimilation in western countries requires shifting to English monolingualism, as opposed to developing sophisticated bilingualism across second, third and fourth generations" #Multilingualism

Beach / Huts. A new one from this summer in Brighton & Hove.

The English words 'galaxy' and 'latte' are etymologically related. 'Galaxy' stems from the Ancient Greek word for "milk", 'gála', which has the same Proto-Indo-European ancestor as Latin 'lactem', which became 'latte' in Italian. Click my new graphic to learn more about this word family:

"Paw prints stretched across the black-and-white floor like stick stamps." I am not finding the noun "stick stamps" elsewhere (just verb 'stick' + noun 'stamps'). Is it a thing?

It's my August newsletter: packed full of languagey, booky, mappy things to read, do, and think about. substack.com/home/post/p-...

This is not only a serious issue for historians and not only a serious issue for academics (although it is that). It's a development that's also deleterious for the GLAM sector, for example, and part of a much larger trend nationally and internationally to restrict and dismantle access to archives.

Just checked " 's worth of NOUN" in the GloWbE corpus. Was this predictable? Americans talking about work, food and difference. Brits talking about rain. But 'data' unites us.

I’m still amazed by how many Brits think immigration is the reason for the state of British public services and not decades of underfunding. It’s like critical thinking stopped in 2015.

The National Endowment for the Arts, 1965-2025.