Jessi Grieser
@jessgrieser.com
Sociolinguist, novelist, photographer, quilter, saxophonist and Boglehead. Associate Professor of Linguistics at UMich.
Pinned
Jessi Grieser
@jessgrieser.com
· Nov 9
I’ve gotten a bunch of new followers of late. So hi; I’m a Black
Woman sociolinguistics prof at my alma mater, Univ of Michigan. I skeet social justice, linguistics, productivity, teaching, cats and dogs, and NCAA sportsball.
I contain multitudes.
Woman sociolinguistics prof at my alma mater, Univ of Michigan. I skeet social justice, linguistics, productivity, teaching, cats and dogs, and NCAA sportsball.
I contain multitudes.
I have the same problem but the either direction with sphygmomanometer which is just sphygmometer.
February 9, 2026 at 11:36 PM
I have the same problem but the either direction with sphygmomanometer which is just sphygmometer.
Periodic confused rant about the paradox that the generation that actually used paper memos, on which email subject lines are modeled, rarely use good email subject lines.
<no subject> = tell me you're retired without telling me you're retired.
<no subject> = tell me you're retired without telling me you're retired.
February 9, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Periodic confused rant about the paradox that the generation that actually used paper memos, on which email subject lines are modeled, rarely use good email subject lines.
<no subject> = tell me you're retired without telling me you're retired.
<no subject> = tell me you're retired without telling me you're retired.
Buying expensive legos is bar none my favorite part of adulthood.
February 8, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Buying expensive legos is bar none my favorite part of adulthood.
Reposted by Jessi Grieser
Mine has an outlet which leads me to spend my entire cleaning calculating the spray height from the high pressure nozzle and wondering if it really should be a GFCI.
February 7, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Mine has an outlet which leads me to spend my entire cleaning calculating the spray height from the high pressure nozzle and wondering if it really should be a GFCI.
That is where we are again! I don't know if you know... :) Astute observation and an excellent joke that I did not think of...
February 6, 2026 at 6:39 PM
That is where we are again! I don't know if you know... :) Astute observation and an excellent joke that I did not think of...
Reposted by Jessi Grieser
From @acyn.bsky.social (posted on X)
"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?
Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…
Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.
Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."
"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?
Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…
Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.
Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."
February 6, 2026 at 3:47 PM
From @acyn.bsky.social (posted on X)
"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?
Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…
Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.
Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."
"Reporter: Do any of you have a favorite animal?
Child: My favorite one is a gold snake that can move. It has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail…
Reporter: Mr. Mamdani, the second question for you.
Mamdani: Yes. It’s also the golden snake."
My department chair just sheepishly asked if I had the thermostat and it turns out that in our new department space, I control the temperature in his office.
How shall I wield this power? 🥶🥵😈
How shall I wield this power? 🥶🥵😈
February 6, 2026 at 6:06 PM
My department chair just sheepishly asked if I had the thermostat and it turns out that in our new department space, I control the temperature in his office.
How shall I wield this power? 🥶🥵😈
How shall I wield this power? 🥶🥵😈
Bummer! Somebody send it to Language @ Internet or something, stat!
February 6, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Bummer! Somebody send it to Language @ Internet or something, stat!
Insta follow and is the project accessible somewhere???
February 6, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Insta follow and is the project accessible somewhere???
And even more so, those same folks will also say that we should utterly ban AI in generating text for tenure letters. To which it's like, well either GenAI tools are a valid method to generate text about what you know about someone or they're not.
February 5, 2026 at 9:49 PM
And even more so, those same folks will also say that we should utterly ban AI in generating text for tenure letters. To which it's like, well either GenAI tools are a valid method to generate text about what you know about someone or they're not.
Increasingly, a number of faculty are using GenAI to write student letters of rec. Justified on a scale of "so many; whattrya gonna do" to "this is a great boon to this process."
*When* are we going to acknowledge that letters of rec is just a completely unjust system and has been for some time?
*When* are we going to acknowledge that letters of rec is just a completely unjust system and has been for some time?
February 5, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Increasingly, a number of faculty are using GenAI to write student letters of rec. Justified on a scale of "so many; whattrya gonna do" to "this is a great boon to this process."
*When* are we going to acknowledge that letters of rec is just a completely unjust system and has been for some time?
*When* are we going to acknowledge that letters of rec is just a completely unjust system and has been for some time?
You know it’s not the real M🪙 because he didn’t say he was a linguist and therefore qualified to speak on a health topic.
February 5, 2026 at 12:57 AM
You know it’s not the real M🪙 because he didn’t say he was a linguist and therefore qualified to speak on a health topic.
😆
Tell me you don’t internet without telling me you don’t internet.
Tell me you don’t internet without telling me you don’t internet.
February 4, 2026 at 1:50 AM
😆
Tell me you don’t internet without telling me you don’t internet.
Tell me you don’t internet without telling me you don’t internet.
Also this construction! Thank you this would totally need to be part of a grammatical test. Is there an obligate missing ADJ…
February 2, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Also this construction! Thank you this would totally need to be part of a grammatical test. Is there an obligate missing ADJ…
In related news I really want a "missed connections" #WOTY category for words that never made it to the ballot or got very few votes but that slid into everyone's vocabulary anyway.
Has anyone looked at the "nonspecific statement = criticism" linguistic construction? e.g.
"Those were choices they made."
"That's a thing you can wear."
"That was an action he took."
Realizing this one has slipped into the discourse repertoire without much fanfare.
"Those were choices they made."
"That's a thing you can wear."
"That was an action he took."
Realizing this one has slipped into the discourse repertoire without much fanfare.
February 2, 2026 at 5:00 AM
In related news I really want a "missed connections" #WOTY category for words that never made it to the ballot or got very few votes but that slid into everyone's vocabulary anyway.
Hmmm yes, I agree that's where its illocutionary force comes from but I find the narrow range of permissible syntax to be interesting. It also has a set of discourse markers that often collocate like "I suppose" and "I guess" that I find noteworthy.
February 2, 2026 at 4:51 AM
Hmmm yes, I agree that's where its illocutionary force comes from but I find the narrow range of permissible syntax to be interesting. It also has a set of discourse markers that often collocate like "I suppose" and "I guess" that I find noteworthy.
Has anyone looked at the "nonspecific statement = criticism" linguistic construction? e.g.
"Those were choices they made."
"That's a thing you can wear."
"That was an action he took."
Realizing this one has slipped into the discourse repertoire without much fanfare.
"Those were choices they made."
"That's a thing you can wear."
"That was an action he took."
Realizing this one has slipped into the discourse repertoire without much fanfare.
February 2, 2026 at 4:45 AM
Has anyone looked at the "nonspecific statement = criticism" linguistic construction? e.g.
"Those were choices they made."
"That's a thing you can wear."
"That was an action he took."
Realizing this one has slipped into the discourse repertoire without much fanfare.
"Those were choices they made."
"That's a thing you can wear."
"That was an action he took."
Realizing this one has slipped into the discourse repertoire without much fanfare.
Someone mentioned that North Dakota is colder than hell. I remarked “Instead of being cold as Hell?” And then realized that Ann Arbor is pretty much always precisely as cold as Hell.
www.gotohellmi.com
www.gotohellmi.com
Hell, Michigan
Hell, Michigan's Official Website
www.gotohellmi.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Someone mentioned that North Dakota is colder than hell. I remarked “Instead of being cold as Hell?” And then realized that Ann Arbor is pretty much always precisely as cold as Hell.
www.gotohellmi.com
www.gotohellmi.com
Yes! Turned out to be one of the most useful courses I took for my eventual career: a vocal tract is just a clarinet made out of meat.
January 31, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Yes! Turned out to be one of the most useful courses I took for my eventual career: a vocal tract is just a clarinet made out of meat.
I took two! I dumped my ill advised, calculus course my first term and enrolled in a seminar, and then took the professor’s bigger course of the following term. It was great!
January 31, 2026 at 8:50 PM
I took two! I dumped my ill advised, calculus course my first term and enrolled in a seminar, and then took the professor’s bigger course of the following term. It was great!
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Frauds and myths in archaeology
2. Medical anthropology
3. Physics of Music
4. Chinese calligraphy
5. Carillon
As should be obvious, I am now a linguistics professor. 😝
1. Frauds and myths in archaeology
2. Medical anthropology
3. Physics of Music
4. Chinese calligraphy
5. Carillon
As should be obvious, I am now a linguistics professor. 😝
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Constitutional law
2. Gender, race, and education
3. The theory and practice of the European left
4. Western representations of the colonized subject
5. Ultimate frisbee
1. Constitutional law
2. Gender, race, and education
3. The theory and practice of the European left
4. Western representations of the colonized subject
5. Ultimate frisbee
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution
1. Marine Biology (we got to go out on a boat!)
2. The History of the Holocaust
3. Logic and Critical Thinking
4. Eastern Religions
5. The French Revolution
January 31, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college:
1. Frauds and myths in archaeology
2. Medical anthropology
3. Physics of Music
4. Chinese calligraphy
5. Carillon
As should be obvious, I am now a linguistics professor. 😝
1. Frauds and myths in archaeology
2. Medical anthropology
3. Physics of Music
4. Chinese calligraphy
5. Carillon
As should be obvious, I am now a linguistics professor. 😝
Saving this thread to give our next music director a head start!
For anyone reading this thread, Trinity Lutheran Ann Arbor (ELCA, Reconciling in Christ congregation) is looking for a new music minister! Possibility of FT if willing to include youth and family ministry in responsibilities.
For anyone reading this thread, Trinity Lutheran Ann Arbor (ELCA, Reconciling in Christ congregation) is looking for a new music minister! Possibility of FT if willing to include youth and family ministry in responsibilities.
January 31, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Saving this thread to give our next music director a head start!
For anyone reading this thread, Trinity Lutheran Ann Arbor (ELCA, Reconciling in Christ congregation) is looking for a new music minister! Possibility of FT if willing to include youth and family ministry in responsibilities.
For anyone reading this thread, Trinity Lutheran Ann Arbor (ELCA, Reconciling in Christ congregation) is looking for a new music minister! Possibility of FT if willing to include youth and family ministry in responsibilities.
I held a room block at our Graduate hotel for a conference I hosted. They were great.
I just sent a message to our sales person telling him I would not have booked the room block if this had happened one year ago, and asked him to pass that message up the chain.
Where you have a lever, push it.
I just sent a message to our sales person telling him I would not have booked the room block if this had happened one year ago, and asked him to pass that message up the chain.
Where you have a lever, push it.
Happening Now in Minneapolis: Windows are boarded up and riot police stand behind barricades in preparation of tonight's noise demo protesting ICE agents staying at the Graduate by Hilton Hotel on the campus of the University of MN. This is at least the 3rd noise demo at the Graduate.
January 29, 2026 at 3:03 AM
I held a room block at our Graduate hotel for a conference I hosted. They were great.
I just sent a message to our sales person telling him I would not have booked the room block if this had happened one year ago, and asked him to pass that message up the chain.
Where you have a lever, push it.
I just sent a message to our sales person telling him I would not have booked the room block if this had happened one year ago, and asked him to pass that message up the chain.
Where you have a lever, push it.