Tag: sociolinguistics
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Words about Words
“Euphemism” is a pretty big word, but it’s so useful that it’s part of a set of words I generally wind up teaching to my students if they’re at least intermediate level. These “words about words” belong to a vocabulary set that’s above or outside of the level of the other words they know. However,…
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Important Reading on “NNESTs”
It is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US, so it occurred to me it might be timely to post on this topic, which has surprising intersections with issues of racism and classism. (Language-based discrimination often does.) An issue that is close to my heart is the status of English teachers who learned English…
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A Silly Joke
Here’s a silly old language-related joke, which I suppose many younger students wouldn’t even get (not that I’ve ever sent a telegram): A dog goes to a telegraph office and dictates the following message to the clerk: “Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.” “That’s seven words,” says the clerk. “You get eight for the…