Mark Liberman has a devastating post that goes way beyond the other day’s rather unconcluded up business. What I wonder, though, and briefly so, is why “to * up” ghits about so much more than “to * down“, to say nothing of that unloved beast, “to * it all around”. Dinner is emerging from the…
The noble Iggy notes that Korean “parents are turning to surgery to sort out misplaced l and r sounds.” Apparently The procedure, which takes twenty to thirty minutes under local anesthetic, involves snipping the thin tissue under the tongue to make it longer and supposedly nimbler. This is an interesting idea. For example, are there…
I once saw a pocket trumpet miraculously transformed by a car into something vaguely resembling a plate, but back in 1753 James Hanson and his father were condemned to transportation for trying to achieve the opposite without paying for the raw materials. This text is from the online proceedings of the Old Bailey: (M.) James…
Francesc Candel, Els altres catalans, “The other Catalans” (1964): For some time the immigrants [to Catalonia], and specifically those from the south [of Spain], have been called “Koreans”. They are also called this in Bilbao and Avilés. It is curious that in Turin and Milan those who come from the south of Italy are also…
I’ve put in something new that has got rid of virtually all my spam which, although it mostly went straight to trash, had reached 3500+ daily. As far as I know this will have no adverse effects on normal people, but give me a ring if you suddenly find you’re having problems reaching me by…
Shop deliveries free on foot in Leeds LS1-8 & LS13. Dismiss