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The rise of “selfie”
named Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013
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New issue of the Linguistics and Education Bulletin
New issue of the Linguistics and Education Bulletin via Tumblr http://jesusromerotrillo.tumblr.com/post/67063229803
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Basically, don’t underestimate your listener | Mind your language
Let’s trust each other with depth and detail, not try to reduce conversation to basics When it comes to the word “basically” – banned by an academy in south London – I don’t have old ears. I’m not just grumpy about its usage among the young. And I’m certainly not missing any interpersonal nuance or […]
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The impossibility of being literal
It is literally impossible to be literal. I know what you’re thinking. Literal is the word we use when we mean exactly what we say, and metaphorical or figurative is what we say when we’re playing around. When we’re being figurative, we say “it was a million miles away”, meaning “I walked for hours.” When […]
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George Orwell betrayed: Islamist Tariq Ramadan gives a lecture in his name
The present political chaos is connected with the decay of language. (George Orwell, Politics and the English language, 1946.) This week in London, the annual George Orwell Lecture was given by the Islamist writer Tariq Ramadan. Where is one to start? George Orwell was against religious censorship. Tariq Ramadan campaigned successfully to cancel a production […]
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Beyond the shtetl
THE author of a new biography discusses the universal appeal of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and the impact Shalom Aleichem had on Jewish comedians in the 20th century from Prospero http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/11/life-and-legacy-sholem-aleichem?fsrc=rss via IFTTT