Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch
@heddwen.bsky.social
I write the monthly newsletter English and the Dutch, about all the ways English and Dutch interact: https://englishandthedutch.substack.com/
English teacher at Bielefeld University (EAL & ELA)
Dutch English
World Englishes
AI English
Lexicography
English teacher at Bielefeld University (EAL & ELA)
Dutch English
World Englishes
AI English
Lexicography
If you are doing, or thinking of starting, a project about language that will (also) teach 'regular folks' about language, you should apply for this grant! Apart from some money, it will also give you publicity and a wider network.
Working on a project bringing linguistics to broader audiences?
The 2026 LingComm Grants are $300 USD grants to help you with your project!
Please apply and/or share with any up and coming lingcommers you know!
Details:
lingcomm.org/grants
#linguistics #langsky #lingcomm
The 2026 LingComm Grants are $300 USD grants to help you with your project!
Please apply and/or share with any up and coming lingcommers you know!
Details:
lingcomm.org/grants
#linguistics #langsky #lingcomm
January 25, 2026 at 1:55 PM
If you are doing, or thinking of starting, a project about language that will (also) teach 'regular folks' about language, you should apply for this grant! Apart from some money, it will also give you publicity and a wider network.
I was a bit ill last weekend, so I made it easy on myself: the theme this month is ‘no theme’ 😉
It did give me the chance to dig up some of my favourite fun facts that don’t really fit into any easy category!
It did give me the chance to dig up some of my favourite fun facts that don’t really fit into any easy category!
A truth like a cow 🐮, It's a random edition! 🎲
English and the Dutch #37
englishandthedutch.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:48 AM
I was a bit ill last weekend, so I made it easy on myself: the theme this month is ‘no theme’ 😉
It did give me the chance to dig up some of my favourite fun facts that don’t really fit into any easy category!
It did give me the chance to dig up some of my favourite fun facts that don’t really fit into any easy category!
Leuk! Ik ben erbij!
January 14, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Leuk! Ik ben erbij!
A typical Dutch winter scene in Delft 🙂
January 5, 2026 at 7:01 AM
A typical Dutch winter scene in Delft 🙂
The Belgian prime minister's cat is popular on social media, and on The Guardian's homepage - and he speaks Dutch!
Belgian PM’s cat Maximus is social media star with ‘subliminal political message’
Maximus Textoris Pulcher, an official resident at Rue de la Loi 16, shows a warmer side of Bart De Wever
www.theguardian.com
January 4, 2026 at 5:12 PM
The Belgian prime minister's cat is popular on social media, and on The Guardian's homepage - and he speaks Dutch!
I'm right there with you. However, it is such a joy to see Flanders coming up top in anything that I decided to include the news anyway! (And with flawed methodology or not - the idea that Flanders would do much better than Wallonia in this respect does ring very true.)
December 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
I'm right there with you. However, it is such a joy to see Flanders coming up top in anything that I decided to include the news anyway! (And with flawed methodology or not - the idea that Flanders would do much better than Wallonia in this respect does ring very true.)
Labubu is Dutch! (not really) Flemish people speak the best non-native English in the world (yes, really), and the Dutch language has a whole lot of proverbs about teeth.
All that and more in my latest newsletter :-)
All that and more in my latest newsletter :-)
English and the Dutch Newsletter #36
About Labubu, Flanders being better than everyone else, and feeling people on the tooth
open.substack.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Labubu is Dutch! (not really) Flemish people speak the best non-native English in the world (yes, really), and the Dutch language has a whole lot of proverbs about teeth.
All that and more in my latest newsletter :-)
All that and more in my latest newsletter :-)
Did a quick search - here's 30 August 2024, with an example of w-lengthening for good measure.
December 14, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Did a quick search - here's 30 August 2024, with an example of w-lengthening for good measure.
Perfectly normal in Dutch, where vowel lengthening to two vowels is part of the language, so adding a few more feels natural. Certainly pre internet. No can be "neeeeeee" and yes can be "jaaaaaaa" for example.
December 14, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Perfectly normal in Dutch, where vowel lengthening to two vowels is part of the language, so adding a few more feels natural. Certainly pre internet. No can be "neeeeeee" and yes can be "jaaaaaaa" for example.
Sinterklaas is one word :-) I noticed the similarity as an English-speaking child growing up in the Netherlands, and was always so confused, because to me, they were very seperate people! (They both brought me presents, though! My mother told me they were brothers :-)
December 10, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Sinterklaas is one word :-) I noticed the similarity as an English-speaking child growing up in the Netherlands, and was always so confused, because to me, they were very seperate people! (They both brought me presents, though! My mother told me they were brothers :-)
What was the original language?
December 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
What was the original language?
Aaaah, thank you!
December 10, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Aaaah, thank you!
Ack! My browser isn't showing those emojis. Could you take a screenshot? I'm so curious!
December 10, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Ack! My browser isn't showing those emojis. Could you take a screenshot? I'm so curious!
Date formats always confuse my English students. So I made a helpful slide.
December 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Date formats always confuse my English students. So I made a helpful slide.
Gewoon 'dochmatisch'. Maar ik denk dat ik toch dacht dat het Nederlands van het Engels kwam.
October 18, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Gewoon 'dochmatisch'. Maar ik denk dat ik toch dacht dat het Nederlands van het Engels kwam.
I didn't know that, that's brilliant!
I read Asterix in Dutch, and the dog had his French name "Idefix". Turns out this is a pun on "idée fixe", making "Dogmatix" a brilliant translation!
So now I'm wondering if my reasoning was my own, or if I perhaps once knew about "Dogmatix" but just forgot...
I read Asterix in Dutch, and the dog had his French name "Idefix". Turns out this is a pun on "idée fixe", making "Dogmatix" a brilliant translation!
So now I'm wondering if my reasoning was my own, or if I perhaps once knew about "Dogmatix" but just forgot...
October 17, 2025 at 8:31 AM
I didn't know that, that's brilliant!
I read Asterix in Dutch, and the dog had his French name "Idefix". Turns out this is a pun on "idée fixe", making "Dogmatix" a brilliant translation!
So now I'm wondering if my reasoning was my own, or if I perhaps once knew about "Dogmatix" but just forgot...
I read Asterix in Dutch, and the dog had his French name "Idefix". Turns out this is a pun on "idée fixe", making "Dogmatix" a brilliant translation!
So now I'm wondering if my reasoning was my own, or if I perhaps once knew about "Dogmatix" but just forgot...
I thought the word "dogmatic" was a combination of "dog" and "automatic". Like a persistent and not very clever dog who is following a certain idea like an unstoppable robot.
I just looked it up. It comes from the word "dogma".
OMG, of course it does. 🤦♀️😂
I just looked it up. It comes from the word "dogma".
OMG, of course it does. 🤦♀️😂
October 17, 2025 at 8:08 AM
I thought the word "dogmatic" was a combination of "dog" and "automatic". Like a persistent and not very clever dog who is following a certain idea like an unstoppable robot.
I just looked it up. It comes from the word "dogma".
OMG, of course it does. 🤦♀️😂
I just looked it up. It comes from the word "dogma".
OMG, of course it does. 🤦♀️😂
Great summary for those of us that couldn't be there, thanks!
October 8, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Great summary for those of us that couldn't be there, thanks!
In her latest newsletter, Daisy Christodoulou makes the point that educational apps can never compete with apps that have "hold the user's attention" as their sole purpose.
The following excerpt made me LOL
The following excerpt made me LOL
October 5, 2025 at 9:25 AM
In her latest newsletter, Daisy Christodoulou makes the point that educational apps can never compete with apps that have "hold the user's attention" as their sole purpose.
The following excerpt made me LOL
The following excerpt made me LOL
I did a pilot study for longitudinal slang research in February (128 respondents). Got discouraged because of methodological issues (too much slang!). Have now had an idea how to address these issues. Feeling encouraged again!
Also: having ChatGPT help you with R is FIRE.
Also: having ChatGPT help you with R is FIRE.
October 1, 2025 at 2:11 PM
I did a pilot study for longitudinal slang research in February (128 respondents). Got discouraged because of methodological issues (too much slang!). Have now had an idea how to address these issues. Feeling encouraged again!
Also: having ChatGPT help you with R is FIRE.
Also: having ChatGPT help you with R is FIRE.
Reposted by Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch
The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia is now on sale in the UK. It’s pretty sweet seeing something that has consumed so much of your life sitting in Waterstones like it’s always belonged there… Thank you @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social.
If words are your jam, it’ll make you happy.
shorturl.at/5TwQI
If words are your jam, it’ll make you happy.
shorturl.at/5TwQI
September 25, 2025 at 2:44 PM
The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia is now on sale in the UK. It’s pretty sweet seeing something that has consumed so much of your life sitting in Waterstones like it’s always belonged there… Thank you @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social.
If words are your jam, it’ll make you happy.
shorturl.at/5TwQI
If words are your jam, it’ll make you happy.
shorturl.at/5TwQI
Reposted by Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch
Merriam survives on snarky posts, games, and sharper SEO. With U.S. lexicographers down from about 200 to under 50, this piece urges treating dictionaries as public goods amid fights over words like insurrection and woke.
By @stefanfatsis.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com
buff.ly/ycOMo0K
By @stefanfatsis.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com
buff.ly/ycOMo0K
Is This the End of the Dictionary?
Obsolete (adj.): no longer in use or no longer useful
buff.ly
September 29, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Merriam survives on snarky posts, games, and sharper SEO. With U.S. lexicographers down from about 200 to under 50, this piece urges treating dictionaries as public goods amid fights over words like insurrection and woke.
By @stefanfatsis.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com
buff.ly/ycOMo0K
By @stefanfatsis.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com
buff.ly/ycOMo0K
From around late July 2025, Urban Dictionary no longer shows an upvote/downvote count. Nobody knows why. It might just be a bug, or it may have been intentional.
The missing counts make the site unusable for slang researchers like me :-(
The missing counts make the site unusable for slang researchers like me :-(
September 28, 2025 at 2:29 PM
From around late July 2025, Urban Dictionary no longer shows an upvote/downvote count. Nobody knows why. It might just be a bug, or it may have been intentional.
The missing counts make the site unusable for slang researchers like me :-(
The missing counts make the site unusable for slang researchers like me :-(
Another nail in the coffin of internet blogging...
Spam comments have existed for many years, and so have spam filters.
But now spammers are using AI to read the blog post and write relevant comments, and my spam filter lets them through, meaning I have to sift through them manually.
Spam comments have existed for many years, and so have spam filters.
But now spammers are using AI to read the blog post and write relevant comments, and my spam filter lets them through, meaning I have to sift through them manually.
September 23, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Another nail in the coffin of internet blogging...
Spam comments have existed for many years, and so have spam filters.
But now spammers are using AI to read the blog post and write relevant comments, and my spam filter lets them through, meaning I have to sift through them manually.
Spam comments have existed for many years, and so have spam filters.
But now spammers are using AI to read the blog post and write relevant comments, and my spam filter lets them through, meaning I have to sift through them manually.
Reposted by Heddwen Newton - English & Dutch
My September newsletter is out now, with links to lots of good stuff and a couple of linguisticky pics from my trip to Guangzhou:
open.substack.com/pub/lynnegui...
open.substack.com/pub/lynnegui...
Caught or seen
This time: caught dead, China unbound, British-American lexical relations and links to clink
open.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 5:10 PM
My September newsletter is out now, with links to lots of good stuff and a couple of linguisticky pics from my trip to Guangzhou:
open.substack.com/pub/lynnegui...
open.substack.com/pub/lynnegui...