Gareth Roberts

Thread.

The GOP internal polling in Texas must be brutal right now

Also curious about attitudes towards learning styles in the field? My impression is of an increasingly longstanding consensus that they're something of a myth (not just wrt language), but I also come across language teachers who still seem to put stock in the idea. Where are things in the field?

What's the current thinking among language education researchers on how languages should be taught to adults? Does anyone in that field have a good review article to suggest?

Five years ago. Incredible. Everyone was talking about a Johnson third term and Labour's 'decade in the wilderness'. Only FOUR of that most senior team are now Tory MPs.

The BoJo effect.

One country is trying to outlaw political lying, without curbing free speech Lawmakers in Wales are debating world-first legislation to protect the truth, but some fear it is fundamentally flawed.

Can Wales make lying illegal without damaging democracy?

That question sits at the heart of a new bill progressing through the Senedd, which aims to tackle deliberate dishonesty in election campaigns.

🔗 tinyurl.com/32w6hn72

🧵👇

#politicalcommunication #langsky #linguistics #Senedd #polsky

Though there's also a technical distinction between sleet and freezing rain, in which freezing rain is rain that falls as water but freezes on contact, whereas sleet freezes in the air before it hits anything.

bsky.app/profile/gari...

NB: I'm not saying "hail" isn't used in the US. I'm saying that—apparently—"hail" and "sleet" refer to different kinds of falling ice here. While in the UK the only everyday term for falling ice is "hail"; "sleet" instead refers to falling slush.

I honestly have no idea how much change might have happened! All I know is that someone told me today—to my surprise—that in the US "sleet" refers to ice pellets and websites I looked at (such as Wikipedia and Merriam-Webster) seemed to support this.

I don't know that many people other than meteorologists actually use "ice pellets". The distinction I really grew up with is:
- Hail is falling ice
- Rain is falling water
- Freezing rain is falling water that freezes
- Sleet is falling slush

Yes, that's in line with my understanding of the American distinctions. I think the Commonwealth definitions of hail and freezing rain are the same as yours. But what you call sleet, we call ice pellets (or, loosely, hail), and we use sleet for the opposite: snow that partly melts on the way down.

Out of interest—I'm assuming based on your location that you're not an L1 speaker—what did you learn that sleet meant?

You'd think that, as a #linguist who's lived a decade and a half in the northeastearn US, I'd have learnt before now that Americans use "sleet" for ice pellets (what I grew up calling "hail") rather than partly melted falling snow.

A player board and cards for The Silent in Slay the Spire

A colourful board with kinda cool sculpted pieces in Enthrone

Cards for Mephisto and Shango in Tag Team

Last night's #BoardGames:
1. Slay the Spire
2. Enthrone
3. Tag Team

wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage

Colbert on Trump's Gaza Board of Peace: "Paying a billion dollars to obey Trump seems a little steep. After all, CBS got to do it for just $16 million."

He said this CBS 🦸🏻‍♂️

But I completely agree that we mustn't go from that to teaching people that these are still the same word and that "yn" can be translated as "in" in this use too!

The one thing I'll say is that, I recall pointing out to someone that almost all the aspect markers (wedi, am, gan etc.) are prepositions in origin and that even "yn" once upon a time was just the word "in", and they had a little lightbulb moment that I think helped them understand the system better

Oh yes, you're absolutely right that they're different words now! I didn't intend to imply that they're right and you're wrong—only that their view contains a kernel of (historical) truth!

What's interesting is that the yn in "dwi'n canu" and the yn in "dwi'n ganwr" are *not* of the same origin! Hence the difference in mutation; the latter is probably originally a form of the article.

I'm afraid they weren't entirely wrong! The word "yn" in "dwi'n canu" is from the preposition "yn" as in "Dwi yn Nolgellau"! So in origin it did mean "I'm in [the midst of] singing", though that would be a terrible translation!

Mae'r "yn" a sillafir "fy" (ond a ynganir yn aml fel "yn" yn yr iaith lafar) o darddiad arall eto, wrth gwrs!

Mae tarddiad y gair "yn" yn y frawddeg "Mae Aled yn canu" yn wahanol i darddiad y gair "yn" yn y frawddeg "Mae Aled yn ganwr"! Mae'r cyntaf yn dod o'r arddodiad (fel yn "Mae Aled yn Nolgellau") ac mae'r ail—mae'n debyg—yn wreiddiol yn ffurf ar y fannod.

See also Welsh "yn".

Maybe I'm just ignorant of Macedonian, but I'm sceptical that "scream" is the right characterisation.

Man accused of plot to murder US border patrol’s Bovino found not guilty Acquittal of Juan Espinoza Martinez in Chicago marks latest major federal prosecution to fall apart in court

“Bovino” is a Basque word that is a very crude and offensive noun denoting a part of female anatomy. He should Stop using it.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Jon Del Arroz | Pop Culture & Ga... • X.com @jondelarroz Now they're making a Masters of the Universe and giving He-man pronouns. These people won't stop until they ruin everything.

the woke mob is giving He-man pronouns

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) lists criticisms he says he's heard from Republicans... about Trump