Patrick Cox
@patricox.bsky.social
Subtitle podcast: @subtitle.bsky.social Stories about languages and the people who speak them. subtitlepod.com
“‘Keeping’ and not ‘losing’ my Irish is probably the greatest gift I have given myself.”
The Irish language is a joy not a burden: in what other tongue is a penis a wild carrot? | Una Mullally
Record numbers of pupils are seeking opt-outs from compulsory learning. This is misguided – Irish is a portal to a world of imagination, says journalist Una Mullally
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2025 at 9:44 AM
“‘Keeping’ and not ‘losing’ my Irish is probably the greatest gift I have given myself.”
Reposted by Patrick Cox
When you register your name in the Icelandic phonebook you can choose to state your profession. And they have a pretty loose definition of what exactly a profession entails.
This person for example has opted for „þjóðhetja“. It means „National Hero“.
This person for example has opted for „þjóðhetja“. It means „National Hero“.
August 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM
When you register your name in the Icelandic phonebook you can choose to state your profession. And they have a pretty loose definition of what exactly a profession entails.
This person for example has opted for „þjóðhetja“. It means „National Hero“.
This person for example has opted for „þjóðhetja“. It means „National Hero“.
Reposted by Patrick Cox
this is so sad if true. if nothing else it educated me about North Korea's draconian language policies www.dailynk.com/english/nort...
North Korean youth risk arrest for speaking like South Koreans
North Korean authorities are doing everything they can to stop the spread of South Korean pop culture, or hallyu.
www.dailynk.com
July 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
this is so sad if true. if nothing else it educated me about North Korea's draconian language policies www.dailynk.com/english/nort...
In which Orwell vigorously “responds” to Grammarly’s suggestions to “stay on-brand” and write “with A.I. prompts.”
Opinion | Don’t Throw Your Dictionary Away
www.nytimes.com
July 21, 2025 at 1:34 PM
In which Orwell vigorously “responds” to Grammarly’s suggestions to “stay on-brand” and write “with A.I. prompts.”
Reposted by Patrick Cox
I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better
July 16, 2025 at 6:39 AM
I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better
The answer is no. But read the article, it’s good history. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Does the United States Need an Official Language?
Donald Trump’s executive order succeeds where decades of right-wing efforts have failed.
www.newyorker.com
May 19, 2025 at 11:47 AM
The answer is no. But read the article, it’s good history. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Reposted by Patrick Cox
Y'all! I am so happy you can hear this. It's one of the most amazing things I discovered while researching Bye Bye I Love You (and again thanks to @martenvandermeulen.bsky.social) and was so so moved by cellist Petronella Torin's recreation.
A big appreciation for @patricox.bsky.social as well.
A big appreciation for @patricox.bsky.social as well.
How do we memorialize the last words of our loved ones? Thanks to @michaelerard.bsky.social for sharing this story.
subtitlepod.com/how-composer...
subtitlepod.com/how-composer...
How composer Leoš Janáček set his daughter’s last words to music - Subtitle
As 20-year-old Olga Janáčková lay dying from typhoid fever, her father wrote down everything she said. Later, he transformed those words—and gasps—into music. The grieving father, Czech composer Leoš ...
subtitlepod.com
May 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Y'all! I am so happy you can hear this. It's one of the most amazing things I discovered while researching Bye Bye I Love You (and again thanks to @martenvandermeulen.bsky.social) and was so so moved by cellist Petronella Torin's recreation.
A big appreciation for @patricox.bsky.social as well.
A big appreciation for @patricox.bsky.social as well.
Studies with results like these can be bunk, but this one is legit—which makes it super interesting.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...
Do You Think Differently in Different Languages?
The brain’s response to information depends on language’s grammatical structure
www.scientificamerican.com
April 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Studies with results like these can be bunk, but this one is legit—which makes it super interesting.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...
www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...
Reposted by Patrick Cox
I firmly believe in not judging people's language use – because it's the right thing to do, yes, but also because I could never achieve the levels of saltiness of the 16th-century Flemish scholar Jacob de Meyere, who called French the 'scum of Latin'.
April 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I firmly believe in not judging people's language use – because it's the right thing to do, yes, but also because I could never achieve the levels of saltiness of the 16th-century Flemish scholar Jacob de Meyere, who called French the 'scum of Latin'.
Reposted by Patrick Cox
Breaking news: The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage — a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China www.ft.com/content/20d0...
April 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Breaking news: The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage — a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China www.ft.com/content/20d0...
Essential reading, now also essential listening.
BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week. Linguist Ross Perlin is racing against time to map little-known languages across the most linguistically diverse city in history - contemporary New York. #langsky #xl8
BBC Radio 4 - Language City by Ross Perlin
Linguist Ross Perlin meets speakers of little-known languages across New York.
buff.ly
April 14, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Essential reading, now also essential listening.
Reposted by Patrick Cox
Been working a long time on this one. Thanks to @niemanfoundation.bsky.social for granting me the time and space to finally start to understand why US broadcasting (and stepchild podcasting) is so weird! continuous-wave.beehiiv.com/p/no-self-wi...
No self-winding phonographs!
Radio's "liveness bias" started as a regulation, then turned into a business model that grew ever more absurd
continuous-wave.beehiiv.com
April 10, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Been working a long time on this one. Thanks to @niemanfoundation.bsky.social for granting me the time and space to finally start to understand why US broadcasting (and stepchild podcasting) is so weird! continuous-wave.beehiiv.com/p/no-self-wi...
Such a terrible idea I thought it was an early April Fools story.
What does WH Smith’s new high street name TGJones actually mean?
New owner Modella says made-up moniker aims to evoke ‘sense of family’, but brand experts unconvinced
www.theguardian.com
March 28, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Such a terrible idea I thought it was an early April Fools story.
Reposted by Patrick Cox
Irish English words added to the OED in its latest update: blaa, class, debs, ludraman, act the maggot, mineral, morto, spice bag www.oed.com/discover/new...
Oxford English Dictionary
The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1,000 years of English.
www.oed.com
March 26, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Irish English words added to the OED in its latest update: blaa, class, debs, ludraman, act the maggot, mineral, morto, spice bag www.oed.com/discover/new...
Nice to share the name with yer man.
In a Word...Patrick
When I joined this newspaper years ago, I announced: ‘I am Patsy and by this name shall I be known heretofore. Hear ye me!’ And, lo, so it has been
www.irishtimes.com
March 17, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Nice to share the name with yer man.
Reposted by Patrick Cox
I wrote an entire book on alphabetical order,* and
a) this never occurred to me; and
b) holy shit that's crazy.
*It's called A Place for Everything, since you ask, available in all good bookshops now.
a) this never occurred to me; and
b) holy shit that's crazy.
*It's called A Place for Everything, since you ask, available in all good bookshops now.
The Alphabet in Alphabetical Order.
Aich (H)
Arr (R)
Ay (A)
Aye (I)
Bee (B)
Dee (D)
Djee (G)
Double-you (W)
Ee (E)
Eff (F)
El (L)
Em (M)
En (N)
Ess (S)
Ex (X)
Jay (J)
Kay (K)
Kew (Q)
Oh (O)
Pee (P)
See (C)
Tee (T)
Vee (V)
Wye (Y)
You (U)
Zed/Zee (Z)
Source www.goines.net/Writing/the_...
Aich (H)
Arr (R)
Ay (A)
Aye (I)
Bee (B)
Dee (D)
Djee (G)
Double-you (W)
Ee (E)
Eff (F)
El (L)
Em (M)
En (N)
Ess (S)
Ex (X)
Jay (J)
Kay (K)
Kew (Q)
Oh (O)
Pee (P)
See (C)
Tee (T)
Vee (V)
Wye (Y)
You (U)
Zed/Zee (Z)
Source www.goines.net/Writing/the_...
February 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I wrote an entire book on alphabetical order,* and
a) this never occurred to me; and
b) holy shit that's crazy.
*It's called A Place for Everything, since you ask, available in all good bookshops now.
a) this never occurred to me; and
b) holy shit that's crazy.
*It's called A Place for Everything, since you ask, available in all good bookshops now.
Reposted by Patrick Cox
This evening is the first public event for Bye Bye I Love You: a talk at Planet Word, the language museum in Washington, DC.
I'm excited to be onstage with Britt Oates, an anthropologist and manager of public programs at PW, who GETS IT.
planetwordmuseum.org/events/book-...
I'm excited to be onstage with Britt Oates, an anthropologist and manager of public programs at PW, who GETS IT.
planetwordmuseum.org/events/book-...
February 13, 2025 at 12:06 PM
This evening is the first public event for Bye Bye I Love You: a talk at Planet Word, the language museum in Washington, DC.
I'm excited to be onstage with Britt Oates, an anthropologist and manager of public programs at PW, who GETS IT.
planetwordmuseum.org/events/book-...
I'm excited to be onstage with Britt Oates, an anthropologist and manager of public programs at PW, who GETS IT.
planetwordmuseum.org/events/book-...
My Danish pals have written their own fork in the road email.
denmarkification.com
denmarkification.com
Help Denmark Buy California – Because Why Not?
Buy it from Trump, the bigliest crowdsourcing ever
denmarkification.com
February 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
My Danish pals have written their own fork in the road email.
denmarkification.com
denmarkification.com
A sense of longing for that time between the wars when OK, the economy was shot and the newer politicians were creepy but we all put on too much makeup and danced till dawn to atonal music. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/con...
Concepts for Which I Suspect Germans Have a Single Word
Dedicated to schadenfreude and fremdschämen
- - - 1. The form of disappointment that accompanies realizing that the snowy egret you have fleetingly...
www.mcsweeneys.net
February 8, 2025 at 4:44 PM
A sense of longing for that time between the wars when OK, the economy was shot and the newer politicians were creepy but we all put on too much makeup and danced till dawn to atonal music. www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/con...
Reposted by Patrick Cox
Ukraine is the birthplace of the Hasidic Jewish movement and has deep roots in Jewish history stretching back more than a thousand years.
Yet until recently, crucial sacred texts — including the Torah — have never been translated into Ukrainian.
Yet until recently, crucial sacred texts — including the Torah — have never been translated into Ukrainian.
In bomb shelters and without power, Ukrainian Jews translate the Torah into their national language for first time
When Oleg Rostovtsev hovered between life and death after a serious operation last April, he asked friends and family to do something that, until recently, had been impossible — to pray for him by rea...
kyivindependent.com
February 8, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Ukraine is the birthplace of the Hasidic Jewish movement and has deep roots in Jewish history stretching back more than a thousand years.
Yet until recently, crucial sacred texts — including the Torah — have never been translated into Ukrainian.
Yet until recently, crucial sacred texts — including the Torah — have never been translated into Ukrainian.
Shame no more. This is Ireland’s top bilingual podcast. m.independent.ie/entertainmen...
‘I just felt so much shame about being raised in the Irish language’ – The How to Gael podcasters on helping a generation discover a grá for Gaeilge
Upon first meeting Louise Cantillon and Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, it becomes clear that I need to focus. It’s not that I expected to sit back, relax, and coast through our conversation, but I hadn’t antic...
m.independent.ie
January 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Shame no more. This is Ireland’s top bilingual podcast. m.independent.ie/entertainmen...
"Correct" grammar was weird and not especially correct in 1913. Just like now.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Could you pass a Cambridge English exam from 1913?
Three teachers sat - and failed - the first Cambridge English exam 112 years ago. How would you do?
www.bbc.com
January 23, 2025 at 8:05 PM
"Correct" grammar was weird and not especially correct in 1913. Just like now.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Bob Dylan is unpredictable but I don’t think he is going to, um, update this line:
‘Key West is the place to go / Down by the Gulf of Mexico.’
youtu.be/G-oOCo1Y1bw?...
‘Key West is the place to go / Down by the Gulf of Mexico.’
youtu.be/G-oOCo1Y1bw?...
Bob Dylan - Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (Official Audio)
YouTube video by BobDylanVEVO
youtu.be
January 22, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Bob Dylan is unpredictable but I don’t think he is going to, um, update this line:
‘Key West is the place to go / Down by the Gulf of Mexico.’
youtu.be/G-oOCo1Y1bw?...
‘Key West is the place to go / Down by the Gulf of Mexico.’
youtu.be/G-oOCo1Y1bw?...
Reposted by Patrick Cox
‘In the US, the language of migration tends toward the hydraulic: surge, wave, pressure, influx. These terms cast human movement as a physical force rather than the outcome of decisions made across decades.’
Pooja Bhatia on Haitian refugees, from April: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Pooja Bhatia on Haitian refugees, from April: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Pooja Bhatia · Diary: Leaving Haiti
In 2015, for the first time, large numbers of Haitians made the seven-thousand-mile journey through South and Central...
www.lrb.co.uk
January 21, 2025 at 4:00 PM
‘In the US, the language of migration tends toward the hydraulic: surge, wave, pressure, influx. These terms cast human movement as a physical force rather than the outcome of decisions made across decades.’
Pooja Bhatia on Haitian refugees, from April: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Pooja Bhatia on Haitian refugees, from April: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Reposted by Patrick Cox
Today on @literaryhub.bsky.social, my passage in AMERICAN OASIS about Ofelia Zepeda's legacy of preserving and teaching the O'odham language in Tucson and southern Arizona
lithub.com/were-not-liv...
lithub.com/were-not-liv...
January 17, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Today on @literaryhub.bsky.social, my passage in AMERICAN OASIS about Ofelia Zepeda's legacy of preserving and teaching the O'odham language in Tucson and southern Arizona
lithub.com/were-not-liv...
lithub.com/were-not-liv...