I feel like road bowling needs to come to rural Pennsylvania. Where can I get the right kind of metal ball? #spéirGhorm

somebody should check today's reddit/tumblr traffic stats

I often joke that linguists aren't "normal people" (in terms of how they think about words), but lawyers clearly aren't either

Listening to SCOTUS arguments is a slam-dunk case for technocracy

So SCOTUS says professors can't be punished for their speech about DEI, right? right?

1. The largest medical organization in the United States, the American Medical Association, has reaffirmed that gender affirming care for trans youth is medically necessary. It disavowed the New York Times reporting. Incredible development for trans youth. Subscribe to support our journalism.

going from 0 to quagmire in record time

Did we cross from the astrology resurgence being a fun/kitsch/escapist/secular meaning-making hobby to average folks unironically/credulously believing it at face value while I wasn't looking?

If dudes with power/resources are like this (even slightly more often than avg), it is explains so much about the world (and is absolutely terrifying)

Can’t be one without the other. When not good for LGBTQ people, a country is also not good for everyone This is a simple formula. LGBTQ people are due their rights, respect and dignity on their own merits as human beings. But they are also a minority whose treatment reveals the impulses of power

IANAH (not a historian), but even ignoring numerous counterexamples (just this century), I'm struggling to think of even a single example where this "process" worked out

Ban self-referential headlines (BREAKING, EXCLUSIVE, SCOOP) #GetOffMyLawn

Kevin Roberts, President of The Heritage Foundation, claims that evidence suggests a correlation between undergoing Trans Medical Care and acts of violence. He states Heritage's public policy solution is to ban it for all ages and they're willing to work towards this goal on an incremental basis.

oh great, were bringing cursive back but still not requiring our kids to learn another language penncapital-star.com/briefs/cursi...

Torment Nexus, here we come!

I assume a requirement for being a streamer is having the most annoying voice ever

Thinking about starting an anarchosyndicalist commune. Who's in?

Who's got a dialect where QUAD and GOD don't rhyme?

::gets in car, turns on radio:: BBC host, interviewing an ornithologist: "what, exactly, is the difference between a European robin and a North American Robin?"

Translation: we know we suck

I'm fascinated by TV commercial genres in general but the one I'm puzzling over now is the "we're filming a commercial" format Not like "I'm Mr. T, and I'm here to talk to you about..." as in behind-the-scenes, crew is setting up the lights, talent is getting mic'ed, etc

well, this is pretty subjective

My electric space heater looks like a Minion CC @facesinthings.bsky.social

Honest question: where can I find a(ny) intellectually-honest, non-self-interested, academically-rigorous, in-good-faith pieces that are *pro/in defense of* genAI in education?

there is no nonpartisan solution to a partisan attack on our democracy and there is absolutely no *apolitical* solution to a partisan attack on our democracy

Minneapolis groups call for ‘general strike’. "...several local unions—including Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, and St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28—have lent their support to the strike." www.commondreams.org/news/minneap...

Are you a PhD student or ECR in language, gender & sexuality? Join me (an ed. of Bloomsbury Studies in Queer Linguistics book series) and Lexi Webster (an ed. of Gender & Language journal) for a FREE @lgas-baal.bsky.social online seminar on publishing (2pm 18 Feb) docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Stopped clock

Free Greenland, Free Venezuela, Free Palestine, Free Tibet, Free Everybody

I am once again asking my country to stop causing me to begrudgingly align (temporarily) with slightly-less-evil empires

the Wolverines did not include the 'okina on Ka'apana's jersey 🤔 (this has been your linguistic report on the game)

"Why do you have a pony tail? Are you some kind of a rock star or something?"

Essentially, I think that LLM-generated dialogue only makes sense if you believe that the product of writing is words. But the product of writing isn't words, any more than the product of justice is prisoners, or the product of love is weddings. The product of writing is meaning.

a) if you cite it, you'd better read it b) if you don't have time, at min read the abstract/skim the relevant bits c) reviews & (in science) meta-analyses exist for a reason d) it's expected practice to cite secondary sources apastyle.apa.org/style-gramma... e) AI would be such a source (so cite it)

This is a very useful analogy; but be careful not to let it go to your head: I'm more like a utility infielder for the Amarillo Sod Poodles

o h n o

We do not have to offer and I believe indeed should not offer any benefit of the doubt: Anything sold as "AI" should be presumed ineffective, exploitative, environmentally ruinous, bigotry-amplifying and otherwise until proven otherwise. /fin

But let's turn that around: Anyone who wants to call what they are doing "AI" should be accountable for making clear why their product (or research) isn't in fact slop. That's on them. The rest of us do not need to hold space for that. >>

Just a reminder for anyone else who's involved in communicating linguistics to broader audiences, there's a low-traffic but high signal-to-noise ratio lingcomm mailing list here: groups.google.com/g/lingcomm

Penn State professors and faculty members filed for one of the largest public sector union elections in state history on Tuesday. keystonenewsroom.com/2025/12/09/p...

UPDATE: www.pennstatefacultyalliance.org/news/2025/12... A lot of people worked very hard to get us to this point 👏 #pennState #WeAre #PSFA #Union

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

Post your favourite Star Trek character(s). Wrong answers only.

Universities are assembling larger and larger teams to deal with academic integrity issues--mostly focused on AI--while simultaneously holding AI "writing" contests, AI-themed events, "hey, come play with these fun tools!" The messages are so mixed, it's criminal. Because AI is bloated with money.

In lieu of thanksgiving I suggest holding a sort of family court convicting your most annoying relatives of various offenses

Thanksgiving conversation starter: With the caveat that there's excellent/enjoyable music of all kinds, which (sub)genre has the steepest dropoff in quality (ie the median song/artist is most worse than the best), IYHO?

incorrect it's: 1) Strawberry rhubarb 2) Shepherd's 2) Key lime 4) Tomato 3) Cherry 4) Peach or plum 6) Banana meringue 7) and on, garbage