Ellenr

Text therapy: study finds couples who use emojis in text messages feel closer Using emojis in text messages enhances connection and fun in close personal relationships, US study finds

Been so busy working... But here's a recent story on an emoji study for more language links. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

How the use of a word in the Guardian has gotten some readers upset | Elisabeth Ribbans ‘Got’ was changed during the editing of an opinion piece, leading to correspondence lamenting a slide into American English. But language isn’t a fortress, says the Guardian’s global readers’ editor E...

Watch out for those prescriptivists! 😂 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

@bsky.appW

Spent by Alison Bechdel review – the graphic novelist faces up to midlife In this playfully fictionalised memoir, Alison runs a pygmy goat sanctuary while making a name for herself on stage and screen

New Bechdel! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

PS Was wondering what it looked like after it was converted back to a family home. They spent so much money on it, but money doesn't equal taste. If anyone buys it for me, though, I would move in. Lots of crash space and room for house concerts!

Yes, it is. Not a bad price, though it's way out of our league. (We are in a small terrace at the other end of town.) This one was a care home for years. St. Thomas Street turns into the High Street just past it.

Semicolons! Do you know how to use one and would you even notice if they disappeared? | First Dog on the Moon Semicolons are on notice!

I'd miss semi-colons. :) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Starmer accused of echoing far-right with ‘island of strangers’ speech Prime minister’s immigration speech was likened by MPs to rhetoric of Enoch Powell

Language and immigration. :( www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Extra exam time: why do so many schoolkids suddenly need it? Every year, more pupils are granted special ‘access arrangements’ to give them a fairer chance in GCSEs, A-levels and other exams. But with more than 600,000 arrangements in England alone, can the sch...

More independent school children have exam concessions because their parents are more apt to be able to afford to go private for diagnoses rather than rely on waitlists. :( www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Shakespeare did not leave his wife Anne in Stratford, letter fragment suggests Professor says text shows Hathaway lived with playwright in London, upending the established idea of an unhappy marriage

Interesting. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Georgia university receives $500,000 grant to preserve Gullah Geechee heritage GSU will establish the Gullah Geechee Sacred Land Project to research and protect the community and its culture

And money to try to save the Gullah culture and language. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ap...

Patwa is not ‘broken English’: the African ties that bind US and Caribbean languages Centuries later, Jamaican Patwa and US Gullah Creole retain many Africanisms adopted from enslaved people

Missed this language article when I was away on holiday earlier this month. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Bonkers for Britishisms: the UK terms Americans have embraced Researchers have catalogued the British words and phrases most used in US conversation, sparking delight and frustration

Well, I said 'queue' in the US recently and everyone understood me. ;) www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Gigil: word for ‘cute aggression’ among new Oxford English Dictionary entries Other foreign language additions include alamak, a cry of outrage in Singapore and Malaysia, and tapau, a Chinese word for takeaway

New borrowed words added to the OED! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration (Gift Article) Federal agencies have issued guidance to employees on hundreds of terms to limit or avoid using. An analysis of government websites shows many of the same words being removed.

Gift article -- and for A Level English Language. Censored words/US government. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Inside the London reception class where kids are taught to talk to help them stay out of gangs A new initiative aims to improve communication, as as pupils lacking speech and language skills more likely to be excluded and caught up in violence

Well, I'm fine with broadening vocabulary. What bothers is using 'properly' as a word choice in the article Are they all speaking RP, for example? (I hope not!) www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Researchers uncover stories of Black Londoners who escaped slavery Findings in Tower Hamlets archives shed light on resistance to enslavement likened to Underground Railroad in US

Wow -- some of these records go back to the 16th century! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

The Forgotten Writers Who Influenced Jane Austen (Gift Article) In “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf,” a rare-book collector sets out to “investigate” a group of overlooked female writers.

I'd be surprised if the author doesn't at least mention Chawton House Library, an "internationally respected research and learning centre for the study of early women's writing from 1600 to 1830, in Chawton, Hampshire. I've been there -- it's worth a visit! www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/b...

Opinion | How ‘Woke’ Became the ‘Woke Right’ (and Why It Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone) (Gift Article) From pejoration to semantic broadening, the word has done it all.

Free shared article. Columbia University linguist John McWhorter on the rapid pejoration of woke. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/o...

What Republicans really mean when they blame 'DEI' | Mehdi Hasan Referencing DEI is the new rightwing abstraction deployed by Republicans to conceal their anti-Black racism

DEI is the new N-word. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Huntingdon's 1646 witchcraft trial ordeal re-enacted The Witchfinder General used brutal methods to find

It's always about scapegoating. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Rediscovered, a young English novelist’s warning of the Nazi threat Crooked Cross, Sally Carson’s ‘electrifying masterpiece’ from 1934, to be republished

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/f...

Stage adaptation of Coraline cancelled after allegations against Neil Gaiman Producers say it is ‘impossible to continue’ with musical that was due to be staged at Leeds Playhouse from April

Back around 2003/2004, I started teaching Coraline to Year 7 English students. I only taught it for a couple of years because I switched to teaching FE. We didn't know all the details about Gaiman then. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

Rare manuscript from middle ages that inspired Disney castle to go on display for first time in 40 years Les Très Riches Heures, a ‘book of hours’ made by artists felled by the Black Death, will be shown in France this summer

I'm up for a trip to France! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

What Trump didn’t say in his inauguration speech | Bernie Sanders The simple truth is that Trump ignored almost every major issue facing this country’s working families in his first speech

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

For National Handwriting Day, a lovely handwritten index to Gerard's Herbal, via Folger Shakespeare Library. These can often be found in early books. Today indexing software collates, formats and organises index entries - but handwritten notes still support the process https://buff.ly/4adcwVB

Elon Musk has shown his hand. If politicians like me won’t curb his malign powers, who will? | Ed Davey It’s the job of democracies around the world to stand strong together and hold oligarchs and their platforms to account, says Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Skibidi, sigma and slay: the most popular kids’ slang – and what it means According to Oxford University Press, these three words are beloved of kids. Unfortunately, one makes no sense whatsoever

Hmm. Some of this slang is getting old. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Signature moves: are we losing the ability to write by hand? We are far more likely to use our hands to type or swipe than pick up a pen. But in the process we are in danger of losing cognitive skills, sensory experience – and a connection to history

Only certain students may type their GCSEs and A Level; others still write their exams by hand. That means we tend to insist on them writing by hand in class. Everyone typing will depend on centres having enough equipment and being able to afford it. www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ja...

‘His soulful best’: Jack Kerouac’s Buddhist writings to be published for the first time Fifty years after his death, On the Road author’s spiritual reflections show him in a whole new light

Interesting, says she who once had Anne Waldman speak to her classes in Boulder. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...