Lynne Murphy
@lynneguist.bsky.social
US linguist in UK. University of Sussex.
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@lynneguist
Blog: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lynneguist
Newsletter: https://substack.com/@lynneguist
Blog: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/lynneguist
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
I am asking all men on International Men's Day to smile more
November 19, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I am asking all men on International Men's Day to smile more
Listening to ADAM BUXTON‘s podcast with documentarian Lisa Walker and they’ve been discussing accents and accent prejudice a lot, then it comes out that she has a linguistics degree. Fun.
(Don’t know why my voice recognition capitalises AB’s name)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
(Don’t know why my voice recognition capitalises AB’s name)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
EP.265 - LUCY WALKER
Podcast Episode · THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST · 17/11/2025 · 56m
podcasts.apple.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Listening to ADAM BUXTON‘s podcast with documentarian Lisa Walker and they’ve been discussing accents and accent prejudice a lot, then it comes out that she has a linguistics degree. Fun.
(Don’t know why my voice recognition capitalises AB’s name)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
(Don’t know why my voice recognition capitalises AB’s name)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Dictionaries 46:2 (2025) is now available (open access!) on
@projectmuse.bsky.social
Read here about: Arabic in China, Wittgenstein & Austrian German, etymology, Georgian learner-lexicography, antedating & linguistics pedagogy + Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary review
muse.jhu.edu/issue/55471
@projectmuse.bsky.social
Read here about: Arabic in China, Wittgenstein & Austrian German, etymology, Georgian learner-lexicography, antedating & linguistics pedagogy + Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary review
muse.jhu.edu/issue/55471
Project MUSE - Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America-Volume 46, Number 2, 2025
muse.jhu.edu
November 19, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Dictionaries 46:2 (2025) is now available (open access!) on
@projectmuse.bsky.social
Read here about: Arabic in China, Wittgenstein & Austrian German, etymology, Georgian learner-lexicography, antedating & linguistics pedagogy + Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary review
muse.jhu.edu/issue/55471
@projectmuse.bsky.social
Read here about: Arabic in China, Wittgenstein & Austrian German, etymology, Georgian learner-lexicography, antedating & linguistics pedagogy + Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary review
muse.jhu.edu/issue/55471
Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me: An Occasional Series
DEBAG DEBAGGING (perhaps more often with a hyphen, de-bag, but I'm adding it to the list anyhow!)
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
DEBAG DEBAGGING (perhaps more often with a hyphen, de-bag, but I'm adding it to the list anyhow!)
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
NYT Spelling Bee: an archive of disallowed BrE words
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me: An Occasional Series
DEBAG DEBAGGING (perhaps more often with a hyphen, de-bag, but I'm adding it to the list anyhow!)
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
DEBAG DEBAGGING (perhaps more often with a hyphen, de-bag, but I'm adding it to the list anyhow!)
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
I love you, TextExpander.
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
November 18, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I love you, TextExpander.
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
(I may have been marking first-year essays last week.)
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:35 AM
authors you have the chance to do the funniest thing right now
It's 18 years after I first wrote about BrE use of 'the floor' to mean 'the ground' (outside) and that usage still clangs for me.
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
November 18, 2025 at 5:39 PM
It's 18 years after I first wrote about BrE use of 'the floor' to mean 'the ground' (outside) and that usage still clangs for me.
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
(In the article, it says 'knocked to the ground', so I don't think it's a case of an outdoor floor!)
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/11/floo...
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
Dictionaries 46:2 (2025), @projectmuse.bsky.social, edited by @lynneguist.bsky.social. Topics: Arabic in China, Wittgenstein and Austrian German, historical dictionaries, Georgian dictionaries and corpora, antedating and linguistics pedagogy, The Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary.
November 16, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Dictionaries 46:2 (2025), @projectmuse.bsky.social, edited by @lynneguist.bsky.social. Topics: Arabic in China, Wittgenstein and Austrian German, historical dictionaries, Georgian dictionaries and corpora, antedating and linguistics pedagogy, The Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary.
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
Good morning, kids and people, today in book, we have a cover:
(Preorder this jawn at www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914... and use the Bookshop link if you can!)
(Preorder this jawn at www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914... and use the Bookshop link if you can!)
July 15, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Good morning, kids and people, today in book, we have a cover:
(Preorder this jawn at www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914... and use the Bookshop link if you can!)
(Preorder this jawn at www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914... and use the Bookshop link if you can!)
Adding medical qualifications to my cv. I mean, here's the evidence.
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
November 13, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Adding medical qualifications to my cv. I mean, here's the evidence.
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
(was trying to google my blog post about 'in (the) hospital')
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
I'm soon going to have to start thinking about my US-to-UK and UK-to-US Words of the Year. Nominations welcome!!
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
WotY news and Lynneguist news
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I'm soon going to have to start thinking about my US-to-UK and UK-to-US Words of the Year. Nominations welcome!!
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
If you know that cat, you know where I was today.
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
If you know that cat, you know where I was today.
Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series
NIGGLY
*and others
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
NIGGLY
*and others
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Perfectly Common BrE Words the @NYTimesGames Spelling Bee Has Denied Me*: An Occasional Series
NIGGLY
*and others
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
NIGGLY
*and others
Now added to the blog list: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2023/04/nyt-...
Just read a metaphorical 'cooking on gas' from a British writer.
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
November 11, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Just read a metaphorical 'cooking on gas' from a British writer.
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
Looks like that's not the most common way to say 'cooking with gas' in BrE, but more BrE examples than AmE
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
Helpful umbrella terms or too broad to mean anything? 'Neurodivergent' and 'neurodiverse' as labels.
theconversation.com/what-autisti...
theconversation.com/what-autisti...
What autistic people – and those with ADHD and dyslexia – really think about the word ‘neurodiversity’
A new UK survey of more than 900 neurodivergent adults has revealed strong feelings about the language of neurodiversity.
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Helpful umbrella terms or too broad to mean anything? 'Neurodivergent' and 'neurodiverse' as labels.
theconversation.com/what-autisti...
theconversation.com/what-autisti...
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
"'Bye Bye I Love You' is an invitation to consider who we have been and who we will be at the edges of language."
@lynneguist.bsky.social reviews @michaelerard.bsky.social's book for @thetls.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/languages-ll...
@lynneguist.bsky.social reviews @michaelerard.bsky.social's book for @thetls.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/languages-ll...
November 10, 2025 at 12:28 AM
"'Bye Bye I Love You' is an invitation to consider who we have been and who we will be at the edges of language."
@lynneguist.bsky.social reviews @michaelerard.bsky.social's book for @thetls.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/languages-ll...
@lynneguist.bsky.social reviews @michaelerard.bsky.social's book for @thetls.bsky.social: www.the-tls.com/languages-ll...
I'm soon going to have to start thinking about my US-to-UK and UK-to-US Words of the Year. Nominations welcome!!
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
WotY news and Lynneguist news
separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I'm soon going to have to start thinking about my US-to-UK and UK-to-US Words of the Year. Nominations welcome!!
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
Here's an old blog post explaining what qualifies as a SbaCL WotY: separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2022/11/woty...
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
The problem was never that Boris Johnson studied classics...
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
November 8, 2025 at 7:52 PM
The problem was never that Boris Johnson studied classics...
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Perennial favourite reader's letter from 2021.
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
So I’m on the bus in Toronto, capital of a country famous for being polite, where it’s national motto is “Sorry”.
And there’s an annoying kid who won‘t stop whining to his mum. This goes on for a few minutes.
Then a woman at the back of the bus snaps and just shouts “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”.
And there’s an annoying kid who won‘t stop whining to his mum. This goes on for a few minutes.
Then a woman at the back of the bus snaps and just shouts “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”.
November 8, 2025 at 1:10 AM
So I’m on the bus in Toronto, capital of a country famous for being polite, where it’s national motto is “Sorry”.
And there’s an annoying kid who won‘t stop whining to his mum. This goes on for a few minutes.
Then a woman at the back of the bus snaps and just shouts “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”.
And there’s an annoying kid who won‘t stop whining to his mum. This goes on for a few minutes.
Then a woman at the back of the bus snaps and just shouts “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”.
Reposted by Lynne Murphy
The University of Sussex campus, November 2017
November 8, 2025 at 11:40 AM
The University of Sussex campus, November 2017
Enough already!!! Punctuation, silly women and soundbite science debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
Enough already!!! Punctuation, silly women and soundbite science
One of last week’s media talking points was a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (JESP), which attracted attention mainly because of its claim that women use exclamati…
debuk.wordpress.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Enough already!!! Punctuation, silly women and soundbite science debuk.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/e...
Woo-hoo, I got pull-quoted in the TLS newsletter re @michaelerard.bsky.social’s book.
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
November 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Woo-hoo, I got pull-quoted in the TLS newsletter re @michaelerard.bsky.social’s book.
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...
link.the-tls.co.uk/view/6357e23...