Bumping into annex
My current job involves processing a lot of correspondence from lawyers. One lawyer in particular always includes the same stock phrase in their emails: I annex an interim invoice. And I’ve always found it downright weird.
…Getting my wiki on
Recently I’ve been attending the Wellington Wikipedia Meetup and absolutely loving it. Although I’ve had a user account for over a year now (created with the best intentions), I’ve only just plucked up the courage to make any edits.
…My 2020 Reading List
Another year, another set of books to optimistically commit to.
I had a blast going through last year’s list (with one exception, see below) and even managed to tack on David Peterson’s The Art of Language Invention and Gretchen McCulloch’s Because Internet too. Here’s hoping this year’s list is equally rad.
…Kia ora Kowtow
I’ve always tried to avoid saying the name of a particular NZ fashion brand – Kowtow.
…Fly me to the /ksks/: A brief look at Southern Ryūkyūan phonology
Ever since hearing Madoka Hammine talk about the Southern Ryūkyūan language of Yaeyama on the excellent Field Notes podcast, I’ve had a hankering to learn more about this language family.
What I’ve discovered over the past couple of weeks has been fascinating. So I couldn’t help but share some interesting snippets.
…Is there a relationship between Fair Trade and language vitality?
Now that I’ve returned to NZ, I’ve started volunteering in a local Fair Trade store. Before moving to Japan, I’d volunteered there for around five years. Naturally, my motivations for volunteering are largely ethical.
…How I blog
It’s been just over a year since I started this blog, so it seems like as good a time as any to run through my writing and publishing process.
…A textbook case of sexism?
In my current job, I work a lot with an English textbook called Sailing. Overall, it’s a decent resource for the conversation classes I teach. However, a couple of passages in it consistently make me cringe.
…Review: Begat by David Crystal
Begat is an enjoyable, informative examination of the lasting linguistic influence of the King James Bible. David Crystal is someone who believes that this work alone has contributed more idioms to the English language than any other. His book fleshes out this theory.
…Thoughts on conlangs
After getting stuck into David Peterson’s excellent book, The Art of Language Invention, I’ve been thinking more about the topic of constructed languages and how they fit in with the world of linguistics.
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