Tony Thorne

Moltbook: Snapshots of a metaphorical firework In late January 2026, a social network appeared where only AIs could post and within days, the internet had responded with an explosion of parodies, panic, and metaphors that revealed as much about…

I have been charting the linguistic and cultural framing of emerging tech from Dolly the Sheep onwards. This week's post is about Moltbook, a social networking platform for AI agents which was a bit of a viral sensation makingsciencepublic.com/2026/02/13/m... #AI #metaphor #AIMetaphorObservatory

Check the doormat for a pile of anonymous cards

Félicitations!!!

It’s the fourteenth of February…

My friend ‘Poly Styrene’

Call for Applications: Wasafiri Translator in Residence – Endangered Languages We are excited to open applications for a UK-based Translator in Residence working with/in Endangered Languages — and invite proposals from translators…

Job alert for translators! @wasafirimag.bsky.social is seeking a UK-based Translator in Residence working with/in Endangered Languages. Applications are due February 15 - learn more at:

Literally crazy. If the Linguistics department at @essexuni.bsky.social is at risk, then our entire field is at risk. This is incredibly short-sighted given that linguistics (with anti-immigration discourses, AI, and linguistic discrimination on the rise) is arguably needed more than ever.

Plan 2 student loan interest is unfair, says Lucy Powell Deputy Labour leader says her son is in ‘egregious’ scheme under which many graduates face repayments that allow the debt to grow

Plan 2 student loan interest is unfair, says Lucy Powell

Deputy Labour leader says her son is in ‘egregious’ scheme under which many graduates face repayments that allow the debt to grow

www.thetimes.com/money/family...

Moltbook: Snapshots of a metaphorical firework In late January 2026, a social network appeared where only AIs could post and within days, the internet had responded with an explosion of parodies, panic, and metaphors that revealed as much about…

In this week's post I finally catch up with #Moltbook in my quest to hunt for #AI #metaphors and cultural framing makingsciencepublic.com/2026/02/13/m...

Even boomer ‘professionals’ face penury particularly due to energy providers’ profiteering. Governments inert, complicit, flailing.

Cost of living crisis laid bare as almost half of Britons ‘have £25 at end of week’ Exclusive: Majority of UK adults forced to make difficult choices, with almost two-thirds found to be cutting back on essentials like food and heating

This is shocking. Cost of living crisis laid bare as almost half of Britons ‘have under £25 left at end of week’

Majority of UK adults forced to make difficult choices, with almost two-thirds found to be cutting back on essentials like food and heating

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Our hearts go out to you!

🤦‍♂️

He’s not like me. I’m impassioned and resolute

‘Passionate’

Is this something to do with soccer? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Not so much stately as neglected and shabby. But of course the upper classes always say that.

Especially by using crass and toxic invective. I for one am profoundly grateful.

Two foxes sleeping at the back of a suburban garden

Update from suburbia…

Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick

The Trump effect and 90s nostalgia: What's behind the rise in 'Chinamaxxing'? A Chinamaxxing trend has emerged on social media with creators posting about being in a "very Chinese time of my life".

www.sbs.com.au/news/article...

Even New(er) Directions: Language Diversity research and resource pack (Download, EMC_Free) <p>An EMC collaboration with University of Essex, this is the second free download for teachers and students of A Level English Language bringing some of the most up to date research on linguistic var...

Our latest update to the very well-received @engmediacentre.bsky.social New Directions pack is now available! Written by Amanda Cole of University of Cambridge & me, it features 5 new summaries and Q&As, along with an updated glossary. Download it here: www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications...

A reminder of one of the loveliest pairs of siblings in the dictionary: ‘muscle’ and ‘mouse’. To the Roman imagination, the flexed biceps of a (typically naked) athlete resembled a rodent scuttling under the skin. ‘Musculus’, in Latin, means ‘little mouse’.

The first comma doesn’t work. The second one depends on style and context: makes the statement slightly more thoughtful and less brusque or throwaway

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

Dusk…

The post on "platty joobs" slang cites (and may be of interest to) @darach.bsky.social, @maddysherratt.bsky.social, @tonythorne007.bsky.social, @christianilbury.bsky.social, @anghyflawn.net, @mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social, @gretchenmcculloch.com, @drwhen.bsky.social, and others.

Been saying the EU target should be "2 languages (English plus)" forever. Spaniards sometimes say they can't make room to teach Catalan or Galician or Basque to Castilian-speakers because their English is so poor. Wrong! Good language learning culture benefits all.

Plus ça change