A shout-out to @multi-ling-mat.bsky.social (and all small, independent publishers) for their openness, integrity and genuine appreciation of academic reviewers - thank you!

One of my PhD students told me today that they had attended three talks by me over the last month. That not only shows great loyalty, but also reminds me of Stefan Zweig, who, in The World of Yesterday, notes that his passion has become an enterprise.

Did one! Not listed and should be? Let me know 🙂 go.bsky.app/AT6KX6X

Includes a chapter by the @mantrap.bsky.social team on using #corpus linguistics to address the effects of manosphere language

This is happening tomorrow (10 Feb) at @liprg.bsky.social #metaphor #discourseanalysis

There, it has happened: I came across a reference to Koller (2008), for a book I did not write🤦‍♀️#hallucination

I am halfway through the #AI slop of an automatically generated grant application and I am using the will to live. Call me cranky and out of touch, but this is *not* what I signed up for when I became an academic.

Today I learned that there "humaniser" programs that reduce "AI smell" in automatically generated texts. Strange cross-modal metaphor I think, wouldn't AI "sound" be more obvious? @bnerlich.bsky.social

Will it ever end? Then again, no shortage of data, in this case for a handbook chapter on critical #metaphor analysis. @samtbennett.bsky.social Also, a reminder of this bibliography-in progress on #Brexit and language: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

In 2026, our CASS Summer Schools offer two free-to-attend courses in corpus linguistics, focused on Language, Discourse and Society, and Language Teaching, Testing and Assessment. Applications are now open! wp.lancs.ac.uk/corpussummer... #LancsSS26

Many thanks to @discoursenet.bsky.social for inviting me to their monthly London seminar to speak about analysing #emotions in social media comments. And many thanks to the 100+ audience for attending and asking thought-provoking questions! Video of my talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHSE...

Last night read a chapter of a book (Ahmed's Cultural Politics of Emotion). Not another version of a grant application, not a research proposal, not a mapping document. An actual book, on paper. It took me right back to my student days 🥲

The first part features a conversation between the editors and me. This book must have been a mammoth task and has turned out really well, so please get your library to buy it if you can.

My first(!)-year student David Wu made me very proud today: he and another first-year PhD at @lancslinguistics.bsky.social, Luke Liu, have a forthcoming paper in one of the top discourse analysis journals! I will post details on publication

I always forget during non-term time how much I like teaching - fantastic bunch of undergraduate students on "Professional 'Communication" at @lancslinguistics.bsky.social today 😊

Just a heads-up that I am giving the next talk in the @discoursenet.bsky.social monthly seminar series. Make sure to check out the rest of this year's programme as well: discourseanalysis.net/DN/seminars/...

Next Monday (12 Jan) week will start early for me, with this online seminar for postgraduate students. Feel free to share and invite your students! UK: 7-9am Central Europe: 8-10am Malaysia, China: 3-5pm

I first parsed the headline as penguins talking and got quite excited.

Always good to start the year with a publucation! This one includes a chapter by the @mantrap.bsky.social team about using corpus linguistics to address the effects of online misogyny.

Delighted that Jennifer Moreno has a forthcoming article in the J of Language and Discrimination which she worked on while visiting @lancslinguistics.bsky.social ("The Ozempic Phenomenon: Linguistic representations of weight issues in the Spanish press"). Always go for a suitable top journal first!

Reading a Christmas present ("Babel" by R.F. Kuang). It need not be Oxford, I'd take "quiet, solitude, and a serene place to think" anywhere.

If you celebrate Christmas, how do you feel about it: excited, stressed, dreading it, warm and fuzzy? For some festive listening, may I suggest theWords & Actions latest episode, on the language of emotions: wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/epi… See you in 2026!

Nice things to do on a Thursday morning: have an online roundtable discussion on critical discourse studies with Rodney Jones & Jan Zienkowski, courtesy of @unisouthampton.bsky.social's Linguistics department, where two of my former PhD students work 🙂 @alexiconartist.bsky.social, Lexi Webster

My MA course on discourse analysis was popular with - and hopefully useful for - visiting researchers from China this year😊

I will shortly be talking about discourses on LGBT+ rights in Europe here at 12.30pm GMT / 1.30pm CET: meet.google.com/rww-cmmp-itk I will be joined by a human rights lawyer from Taiwan for a comparative perspective and discussion. Free online event!

Advent and Christmas are times of intense #emotions, ranging from joy and gratitude to stress and anger. Take some time out this weekend with Words & Action's latest podcast episode: wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/e... @linguadigitalis.bsky.social

I'll be talking about critical discourse analysis at this event for A-level students, in very illustrous company

Menswear is thinking pink this season - but for some, it's a question of politics. Fab to see our own Prof Veronika Koller quoted in this new article in Vogue Business! 🛍️

A new Words & Actions podcast episode landed this morning: "Language of #emotions" Wherever you get your podcast and see below for extra material wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/e...

🩷 Back in 2008, I published a paper on pink as a gender and sexuality marker in visual communication. With pink fashion for men being politicised in the US, here's an article in @voguebusiness.com.web.brid.gy with my two cents (paywalled but DM me for access) 🩷 www.vogue.com/article/pink...

On some days, I am reminded that my work matters, like when @ofcom.bsky.social include the @mantrap.bsky.social response into their guidance on how tech companies can and must make online life safer for women and girls 💜 www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

Great parody of AI hype 🤣

How to use critical discourse analysis in your research: 2-day, in-person workshop for PhD students & early career researchers. 15 & 16 January 2026 Sheffield, UK Details: www.discourseacademy.org/event-detail...

I may not have chosen the best coffee mug for listening to Teun van Dijk talking about ideology... I won it at a Christmas raffle a few years ago 🤷🏼‍♀️

The (short) book to go with the talk:

I had to remind myself of the meaning of two phrases today: "F0 variation" (#phonetics, marking student assignments) and "time series research" (#economics, discussing a grant application). Never a dull Monday!

Words & Actions podcast alert: @linguadigitalis.bsky.social, Matt Drury and I have recorded the first episode in a six-part series "The language of...". First up: language of emotion. To follow: the language of food, waste, nature, music and water. wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com

How to use critical discourse analysis in your research - an in-person, 2-day workshop for PhD and early-career researchers in Sheffield. 15 & 16th January 2026. With: Tom Bartlett, Michael Farrelly, @kranertmichael.bsky.social, Jane Mulderrig. Booking open! www.discourseacademy.org/event-detail...

I am quoted in this article (paywall, sorry) about the phrase "AI factories". In academic terms, I would call it a semi-metaphor. I think the illustration captures that quite nicely. @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

A position paper on critical language awareness by @linguadigitalis.bsky.social and others from Groningen and Cape Town www.frontiersin.org/journals/com...

A colleague, prospective student and I are applying for a project involving healtcare professionals in aesthetic medicine. Ahead of the first video call with them, I feel very self-conscious about my face. I wonder if they worry about their accent or grammar.

14yo son: "Mum, what's the most boring book you ever read?" It's a strong field, but the winner must be Habermas' Theory of Communication Action. An important work, but riveting it ain't.

My 14yo son assures me that he is "cooking" in his Spanish lessons. Opposed to being "cooked" (and metaphorical "cooking [koge]" in Danish), this is a good thing. You learn something every day.

Saying "sorry to bother you" does not give anyone license to make a nuisance of themselves. It's like "no offence but", and neither works pragmatically. "I don't wanna badmouth the kid, but he's a horrible, dishonest, immoral louse. And I say that with all due respect." (Broadway Danny Rose)

Featuring @jessaiston.bsky.social from the @mantrap.bsky.social team

New Word of Mouth podcast with @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social and @jessaiston.bsky.social on language and the ‘manosphere’ www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... #linguistics

I am working my way through a book I have been asked (and, perhaps foolishly, accepted) to review. Pages upon pages of #neuroscience down to the electrochemical detail and engineering diagrams of computational modelling. Non-academic friend: "Are you getting paid for this?" I wish.

Check it out - the corpus MOOC is back (15th September) on a new platform (edX) exploring new topics, including AI. One thing has not changed - it is still free to access 😁 Find out more here: www.edx.org/learn/social...

An early start today, with an interview on @voiceofislamuk.bsky.social, about how to admit mistakes in private, in the workplace and in public life. voiceofislam.co.uk/the-breakfas... They are on digital radio, online and Soundcloud and have a range of interesting programmes.

To say that something is an "honour" or that something is "humbling" has become a bit of a cliche. But I felt both honoured and humbled when a very bright MA student from France told me today that my work is the reason why they are in higher education. I hope I can live up to it.