Arnold Zwicky's Blog

Postings on Language Log (with initials of poster plus date of posting) and on AZBlog (with a date but no initials), plus some linguistically relevant xkcd postings not yet blogged on. xkcd postings are identified by their number plus their title on xkcd; an xkcd posting with number N can be viewed at http//xkcd.org/N/ .

Comments in square brackets are from me or Dave Sayers (from an 11/14/14 posting of his on the variationists’ mailing list, VAR-L) (Note: a few of the postings from Language Log Classic are missing images, but these can be seen by using the number of the posting.)

…..

☛ ML, 7/20/06: Getting on the map:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003371.html
114: Computational Linguists [computational linguistics]
26: Fourier
37: Hyphen [syntax]

☛ http://xkcd.com/145/
145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics [standard language ideologies]

☛ http://xkcd.com/148/
148: Mispronouncing [standard language ideologies]

☛ http://xkcd.com/166/
166: Misusing Slang [language change]

☛ ML, 2/3/07: Charm school (and battling logicians):
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004139.html
207: What xkcd Means

☛ ML, 2/14/07: Choice and meaning:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004194.html
222: Small Talk

☛ ML, 4/10/07: The labyrinth guards:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004393.html
246: Labyrinth Puzzle

☛ ML, 8/5/07: Emotional code:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004789.html
297: Lisp Cycles

☛ AZ, 9/26/07: Hyphen migration, cartoon style:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004963.html
37: Hyphen [image missing]

☛ ML, 10/8/07: Shooting down ‘amateur grammar nazis’:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004997.html
326: Effect an Effect [grammar / standard language ideologies]

☛ AZ, 11/13/07: Like a ring in a bell:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005110.html
342: 1337: Part 2 [image missing]

☛ ML, 10/20/07: To what after shampooing?:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005042.html
329: Turing Test

☛ EB, 12/6/07: Speak xkcd or die:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005191.html
84: National Language [national language ideology, US specifically]

☛ EB, 12/31/07: Proxy debates:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005274.html
[about “Speak xkcd or die”]

☛ ML, 1/11/08: In the funny papers:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005310.html
369: Dangers

☛ BPo, 2/07/08: Unicode humor:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005372.html
380: Emoticon [image missing]

☛ ML, 2/22/08: Just in case…:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005406.html
386: Duty Calls

☛ ML, 3/3/08: Someone’s word order is wrong on the internet:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005424.html
[more on 386]

☛ ML, 3/14/08: Cognitive therapy for word rage:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005457.html
385: How It Works

☛ AZ, 3/22/08: Something wiki this way comes:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005482.html
285: Wikipedian Protester [image missing]

☛ ML, 4/25/08: Closer, my ex, of you:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=85
415: Restraining Order

☛ ML, 6/13/08: Linguistic purity?:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=238
435: Purity

☛ ML, 7/18/10: Ranking fields by the difficulty of imposter detection:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=376
451: Impostor

☛ ML, 9/3/08: Lists, comprehensive and otherwise:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=558
468: Fetishes

☛ ML, 9/11/08: Supercollider? I hardly know her:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=580
474: Turn-On

☛ AZ, 9/25/08: Return to the dwarf planet Pluto:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=634
473: Still Raw

☛ ML, 9/27/08: No comment:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=643
481: Listen to Yourself

☛ ML, 10/9/08: Munroe’s Law:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=698
483: Fiction Rule of Thumb

☛ ML, 11/12/08: Eastward is as eastward does:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=826
503: Terminology

☛ ML, 12/4/08: I’m rich!:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=880
512: Alternate Currency

☛ ML, 12/19/08: Messing around:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=926
519: 11th Grade

☛ http://xkcd.com/529/
529: Sledding Discussion [language acquisition]

☛ ML, 1/13/09: Too many communication modalities:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1019
530: I’m An Idiot

☛ ML, 2/4/09: Statistically significant other:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1107
539: Boyfriend

☛ ML, 5/5/09: Wait, what?:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1407
508: Drapes
163: Donald Knuth
437: SUV
108: M.C. Hammer Slide
518: Flow Charts

☛ AZ, 7/17/09: Erdős?:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1583
599: Apocalypse

☛ AZ, 7/21/09: Cross-modal interference:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1591
604: Qwertial Aphasia

☛ ML, 7/23/09: Conversational incongruence:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1598
611: Disaster Voyeurism

☛ ML, 8/20/09: Levels of misunderstanding:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1679
625: Collections

☛ ML, 9/2/09: Illustrating the maxim of quantity…:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1710
630: Time Travel

☛ ML, 10/4/09: God speed the plow:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1789
643: Ohm

☛ ML, 10/9/09: Time and the river:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1804
647: Scary

☛ BZ, 4/9/10: Revenge, literally speaking:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2239
725: Literally

☛ ML, 4/22/10: Hypothesis-driven research:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2272
54: Science

☛ ML, 5/5/10: Sex and color language:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2298
Color Survey Results
on xkcd blog: results of online color survey

☛ ML, 5/12/10: 22 arguments:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2314
739: Malamanteau [portmanteaus]

☛ ML, 5/22/10: Unce:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2342
740: The Tell-Tale Beat

☛ ML, 5/26/10: I kept doingn it wrongn:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2352
745: Dyslexics

☛ http://xkcd.com/762/
762: Analogies [rhetoric]

☛ DB, 7/11/10: Count on xkcd:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2439
764: One Two

☛ ML, 7/23/10: “Context is everything” again:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2476
770: All the Girls

☛ ML, 8/15/10: Period speech:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2554
771: Period Speech [language change / historical linguistics]

☛ GP, 9/27/10: Obscene intensificatory adverb frequencies:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2663
798: Adjectives [corpus linguistics]

☛ ML, 10/26/10: Just add “intelligent” and “informed” …:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2736
810: Constructive

☛ ML, 11/6/10: Once more into the malamanteau:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2758
more discussion on malamanteau

☛ ML, 1/20/11: Getting real:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2914
849: Complex Conjugate

☛ ML, 2/4/11: Digitoneurolinguistic hacking:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2944
856: Trochee Fixation

☛ ML, 2/8/11: What does “even” even mean?:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2943
156: Commented

☛ ML, 2/21/11: Collegiate learning:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2984
863: Major in the Universe

☛ ML, 3/6/11: They almost non-metaphorically never complain about this!:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3007
725: Literally

☛ ML, 3/10/11: Adspeak:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3020
870: Advertising

☛ ML, 3/15/11: Eigenfeet, eigenfaces, eigenlinguistics, …:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3030
872: Fairy Tales

☛ 5/5/11: Idiocracy:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/idiocracy/
603: Idiocracy

☛ ML, 5/6/11: Bonferroni rules:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3074
882: Significant

☛ ML, 5/20/11: No word for Rapture:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3151
900: Religions

☛ BZ, 6/28/11: The pleasures of recursive acronymy:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3227
917: Hofstadter

☛ ML, 7/1/11: Hated words:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3236
919: Tween Bromance [word rage, word aversion]

☛ ML, 7/11/11: Important editorial advice:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3260
923: Strunk and White

☛ GP, 8/12/11: Password strength:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3360
926: Password Strength

☛ ML, 9/28/11: Integration of knowledge:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3458
957: Development

☛ ML, 11/6/11: Kids today yesterday:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3544
973: MTV Generation

☛ GP, 12/3/11: Grayton support down by 19%:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3601
985: Percentage Points

☛ ML, 1/23/12: The sustainability bubble:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3723
1007: Sustainable [corpus linguistics]

☛ 1/23/12: Fucking ambiguity:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/fucking-ambiguity/
90: Jacket

☛ 1/23/14: Fiction rule of thumb:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/fiction-rule-of-thumb/
483: Fiction Rule of Thumb

☛ 1/30/12: Etymology-Man:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/etymology-man/
1010: Eymology-Man [etymology]

☛ ML, 3/19/12: A non-mathematical theory of communication:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3854
1028: Communication

☛ 3/30/12: Formal logic:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/formal-logic/
1033: Formal Logic

☛ 5/7/12: xkcd back-formation:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/xkcd-back-formation/
1052: Every Major’s Terrible

☛ ML, 6/13/12: Your typical sentence:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4019
1068: Swiftkey

☛ 7/13/12: Person or robot?:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/person-or-robot/
773: University Website

☛ 7/29/12: Amazing app:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/amazing-app/
1085: ContextBot

☛ BZ, 9/14/12: A cautionary vision of things to come:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4184
1108: Cautionary Ghost [on literally: semantics / language change / standard language ideologies]

☛ ML, 11/21/12: It’s worse than you thought:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4333
1137: RTL

☛ ML, 12/14/12: Hydrated and delicious:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4368
replay of 919: Tween Bromance [word rage, word aversion]

☛ 4/10/13: Ups and downs:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/ups-and-downs/
1197: All Adobe Updates

☛ 5/2/13: The 12-inch pianist:
https://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/the-12-inch-pianist/
532: Piano

☛ 7/16/13: Internet enlightenment:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2013/07/16/internet-enlightenment/
1238: Enlightenment

☛ 8/23/13: Means of communication:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2013/08/23/means-of-communication-2/
1254: Preferred Chat System

☛ ML, 11/14/13: xkc-infix-d:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=8463
1290: Syllable Planning

☛ BZ, 11/18/13: Can “[adjective]-ass” occur predicatively?:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=8542
37: Hyphen

☛ 1/18/14: Academic purity:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/01/18/academic-purity/
435: Purity

☛ ML, 1/27/14: A stick tower by any other name:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=10015
1322: Winter

☛ 1/28/14: xkcd vocabulary:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/01/28/xkcd-vocabulary/
another posting of 1322

☛ 2/11/14: Messing with my mind:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/02/11/messing-with-my-mind/
559: No Pun Intended

☛ 3/24/14: My Hobby Comics:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/03/24/my-hobby-comics/
559 again
326: Effect an Effect
174: That’s What SHE Said
259: Clichéd Exchange
1340: Unique Date
75: Curse Levels

☛ ML, 6/18/14: (Prosodic) foot fetish:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=13040
1383: Magic Words

☛ ML, 8/25/14: Teenage Mutant Turtle Metrics:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=14262
1412: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

☛ 10/11/14: Strunk & White and Strunk/White:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/10/11/strunk-white-and-strunkwhite/
reposting of 7/11/11 cartoon (923)

☛ 11/6/14: Language nerd:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/11/06/language-nerd/
1443: Language Nerd

☛ 11/7/14: Adverb and Adverbial:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/11/07/adverb-and-adverbial/
follow-up to “Language nerd” posting

☛ ML, 11/19/14: The Insular Islands:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=15864
1449: Red Rover

☛ 12/14/14: Small Moon:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2014/12/14/small-moon/
1458: Small Moon

☛ GP, 2/6/15: Linguists get tough on promoting language change:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=17563
1483: Quotative Like

☛ 2/6/15: Data on xkcd:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/02/06/data-on-xkcd/
1429: Data

☛ 2/10/15: technically:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/02/10/technically/
1475: Technically

☛ 3/13/15: leg-jiggling:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/03/13/leg-jiggling/
228: Resonance

☛ 3/16/15: xkcd on science and math:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/03/16/xkcd-on-science-and-math/
1489: Fundamental forces; 287: NP-Complete

☛ 3/28/15: na na n:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/03/28/na-na-na/
851: Na

☛ 4/17/15: Sevens:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/04/17/sevens/
1417: Seven

☛ ML, 4/17/15: Style guide:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=18670
1513: Code Quality

☛ 5/6/15: Disciplines in competition:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/05/06/academic-disciplines-in-competition/
1520: Degree-Off

☛ 5/27/15: Association by bracketing:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/05/27/association-by-bracketing/
1529: Brackets

☛ ML, 5/29/15: The BDLPSWDKS Effect:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=19252
1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect

☛ ML, 7/3/15: Ancestors:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=19592
1545: Strengths and Weaknesses

☛ ML, 7/22/15: Spice lists:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=20140
1554: Spice Girls

☛ 7/28/15: Going on in Antwerp:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/07/28/going-on-in-antwerp/
slides for Traugott/Zwicky IPrA paper on My Hobby xkcd cartoons

☛ ML, 7/29/15: Recursive romantics:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=20288
1557: Ozymandias

☛ ML, 8/10/15: Orthography and meaning:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=20630
1562: I in Team

☛ 9/4/15: Two from xkcd:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/09/04/two-from-xkcd/
1571: Car Model Names
1572: xkcd Survey

☛ ML, 9/11/15: Caring, more or less:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=21170
1576: I Could Care Less

☛ 9/13/15: Caring:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2015/09/13/caring/
1576 again

☛ ML, 10/21/15: Describing events:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=21811
1593: Play-By-Play

☛ ML, 11/9/15: Take a Hint:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=22175
1601: Isolation

☛ ML, 11/11/15: Linguistics Club:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=22211
1602: Linguistics Club

☛ ML, 11/18/15: Nicholas Wade’s DNA decoded:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=22384
1605: DNA

☛ 1/6/16: The New Year’s resolution:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/01/06/the-new-years-resolution/
about xkcd cartoons; Eugene Chan tribute to xkcd

☛ ML, 2/12/16: The gravitational internet:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24057
1642: Gravitational Waves

☛ ML, 2/19/16: Brilliant:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24199
1645: Toasts

☛ ML, 2/26/16: Scrambled pairings:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24250
1648: Famous Duos

☛ ML, 3/7/16: Pedantic about biscuit conditionals:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24497
1652: Conditionals

☛ ML, 3/26/16: Good question:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24880
1660: Captain Speaking

☛ ML, 3/29/16: Semantic differential: Podium or lectern?:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=24937
1661: Podium

☛ ML, 7/8/16: The Legend of Gnome Ann: The Legend of Gnome Ann
1704: The Legend of Gnome Ann

☛ ML, 7/21/16: Pictographic English?: Inflection
1709: Inflection

☛ ML, 7/29/16: PolitiFact says: Politifact
1712: Politifact

☛ 8/6/16: xkcd mansplaining:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/08/06/xkcd-mansplaining/
1716: Time Travel Thesis

☛ 8/11/16: Collatz days:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/08/11/collatz-days/
710: Collatz Conjecture (3/5/10)

☛ ML, 8/27/16: Rexthor: Linear Regression
1725 Linear Regression

☛ ML, 9/16/16: Some kind of strict police: Fashion Police and Grammar Police
1735 Fashion Police and Grammar Police

☛ 11/16/16: Placenames of the British isles:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/11/16/placenames-of-the-british-isles/
1759 British Map

☛ 12/13/16: Three from xkcd:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/12/13/three-from-xkcd/
1767 US State Names
1770 UI Change
1771 It Was I

☛ ML, 12/19/16: Adjective foods:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=29900
1774 Adjective Foods

☛ 12/22/16: Edible adjectives:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2016/12/22/edible-adjectives/
1774 Adjective Foods

☛ 3/22/17: An outrageous but colorful pun:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/03/22/an-outrageous-but-colorful-pun/
1814 Color Pattern

☛ 4/26/17: The geological vocabulary bluff:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/04/26/the-geological-vocabulary-bluff/
1829 Geochronology

☛ ML, 5/8/17: Lunch order::
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=32574
1834 Lunch Order

☛ 5/9/17: For want of an A, the world was saved:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/05/09/for-want-of-an-a-the-world-was-saved/
1834 Lunch Order

☛ GP, 5/11/17: Similes for quality of computer code:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=32604
discussion of three cartoons:
1513 Code Quality
1695 Code Quality 2
1833 Code Quality 3

☛ ML, 5/17/17: Machine learning:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=32743
1838 Machine Learning

☛ 5/27/17: Memorial Saturday 4:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/05/27/memorial-saturday-4/
#4 1841 Who?

☛ ML, 6/2/17: Slightly unfair, but funny:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=33024
1845 State Word Map

☛ 6/7/17: The word came down on Pentecost:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/06/07/the-word-came-down-on-pentecost/
#8 1845 State Word Map

☛ 7/8/17: Words on a wall:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/07/08/words-on-a-wall/
1860 Communicating

☛ 8/2/17: Adventures in compounding:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/08/02/adventures-in-compounding/
1681 Laser Products

☛ 8/5/17: This way to the regress:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/08/05/this-way-to-the-regress/
1872 Backup Batteries

☛ 4/3/18: Research Risks and Name Dominoes:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2018/04/03/research-risks-and-name-dominoes/
1904 Research Risks
1970 Name Dominoes

☛ 5/4/18: Initialisms off the rails:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2018/05/04/initialisms-off-the-rails/
1989 IMHO

☛ 7/22/18: Rubber and glue:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2018/07/23/rubber-and-glue/
#2: 1139 Rubber and Glue

☛ 12/20/18: Sports commentary:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2018/12/20/sports-commentary/
904 Sports

☛ 6/2/20: Cereal adjectives:
https://arnoldzwicky.org/2020/06/02/cereal-adjectives/
#2: 1774 Adjective food