Castle, Geordie, and the lows of American prime time TV

Mar 2, 2016 by

Castle, Geordie, and the lows of American prime time TV

One of my current students drew my attention to the latest episode of Castle (aired on ABC on February 29, 2016). So I figured, hey, it fits with the content of my class, I should watch it. I used to really like this show some years...

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On God, Politeness, and the T-V Distinction

Sep 22, 2015 by

On God, Politeness, and the T-V Distinction

This is another post inspired by a question from (and discussion with) David Benkof, who asks about the following “intriguing conundrum for the High Holidays”, when (religious) Jews are thinking “about what our relationship with God...

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Geordie Mysteries—And the Mysteries of the Geordie Dialect

May 14, 2015 by

Geordie Mysteries—And the Mysteries of the Geordie Dialect

In my earlier post on the geography of detective fiction, I noted a trend for mystery novels and TV shows, especially in Britain, to be set in peaceful locations where in actuality relatively few murders occur. Instead, writers and...

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Comments on “23 Maps and Charts on Language”

Nov 21, 2014 by

Recently, a reader drew my attention to a collection of 23 maps and charts on language, asking me to write a commentary on these materials. As I have already discussed many of these graphic materials in previous posts, here is a...

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Northern Californian English: Hella Different?

May 31, 2014 by

Northern Californian English: Hella Different?

As discussed in earlier posts, Northern California, and especially the Greater Bay Area, is demographically, culturally, economically, and politically distinct from the southern part of the state. Are there differences in the speech...

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“Yo” said, “yo” said…

May 21, 2012 by

“Yo” said, “yo” said…

A recent LotW post discussed a newly introduced gender-neutral third person Swedish pronoun hen. It appears that a similar gender-neutral pronoun is developing naturally in a local dialect of American English. According to a post on...

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