Rikker Dockum
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rikker.bsky.social
Rikker Dockum
@rikker.bsky.social
1.6K followers 300 following 150 posts
Linguist ‘n’ stuff. I was @thai101 on the other place. I’ll probably still talk about Thai too much.

You can read stuff I wrote here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FeZWg9QAAAAJ&hl=en
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rikker.bsky.social
Very Serious Linguistics going on today in phonetics/phonology. Congratulations to the tass for winning wug test creature of the semester, spring 2025. #linguistics
A photo of a whiteboard with hand drawings of creatures from the Wug Test, with vote numbers next to them: cra with 4 votes, tass with 10, niz with 3, tiny wug with 1, and gutch with 0. The tass is circled, indicating it is the winner of the vote.
March 25, 2025 at 3:34 PM
rikker.bsky.social
“Top cover, your best years are behind you and your dreams will probably stay dreams”
A FujiX-Hi8 handheld camcorder with a label on the top of the tape loader reading “don’t depress this top cover”
November 29, 2024 at 4:55 PM
rikker.bsky.social
The barcode lookup feature on my dead media cataloging app is so helpful lol. But I think we can all agree that Trolli Sour Brite Octopus Gummy Candy 4 was where the franchise really went off the rails, it just couldn’t recapture the magic of the first three films
Picture of a betamax video tape of the 80s John Hughes movie The Great Outdoors, with a barcode sticker on the side of the box Screenshot of a collection cataloging app showing the same barcode as the video tape in the other photo, but it has matched with a bag of candy, and filled the movie title cell with “Trolli Sour Brite Octopus Gummy Candy 4…”
November 29, 2024 at 3:31 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Obsessed with this nightmare fuel gumball machine man on fb market
An old fashioned gumball machine with the body of the machine decorated to have very lifelike sculpted ears and blue bulging wall-eyes, with the opening where gumballs come out turned into a mouth with realistic upper and lower lips. An old fashioned gumball machine with the body of the machine decorated to have very lifelike sculpted ears and blue bulging wall-eyes, with the opening where gumballs come out turned into a mouth with realistic upper and lower lips. An old fashioned gumball machine with the body of the machine decorated to have very lifelike sculpted ears and blue bulging wall-eyes, with the opening where gumballs come out turned into a mouth with realistic upper and lower lips. An old fashioned gumball machine with the body of the machine decorated to have very lifelike sculpted ears and blue bulging wall-eyes, with the opening where gumballs come out turned into a mouth with realistic upper and lower lips.
November 9, 2024 at 2:54 PM
rikker.bsky.social
My earliest game memory is of Mystery House on Apple II (first of many, many Sierra games I played as a kid)
Screenshot from Mystery House (1980) by Roberta and Ken Williams
October 24, 2024 at 9:24 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Your move, Chicken in a Biskit. I can’t wait to buy Cornish Game Hen in a Pastry
Goldfish crackers temporarily rebrands for a marketing stunt as Chilean Sea Bass in order to draw adult customers
October 24, 2024 at 9:04 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Or if you really want to save time, ask your grocer about Mundee’s mustmayostardayonnaise
October 23, 2024 at 10:25 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Talking morphology in intro linguistics today and the Heinz portmanteau sauces came up, so now I feel the need to remind you all about delightfully unhinged product names like TARCHUP and HANCH
Bottles of Heinz combo sauces of varying colors, with names BUFFARANCH, HONEYRACHA, KETCHILI, KRANCH, MAYOCHUP, MAYOCUE, MAYOMUST, MAYORACHA Bottles of Heinz combo sauces with the names TARCHUP, HANCH, and WASABIOLI
October 23, 2024 at 3:38 PM
rikker.bsky.social
So you know how for anonymous abstracts you have to clear the PDF properties and not just rename the file? Same is true for submitting thesis drafts to your advisor 🫣😭
Screenshot of the properties of a pdf file. File name says “draft 0 .pdf” and the title field reads “draft 0 (ripping my hair out and pulling my teeth)”
October 10, 2024 at 2:14 AM
rikker.bsky.social
New use for my hard copy of the OED: blocking off the vent on the HVAC because it’s gone haywire and cooling our building to 66F/19C
Photo of the three volumes of the Compact OED stacked on top of an HVAC vent in front of a brick wall painted white
September 19, 2024 at 4:32 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Famous boat noodle place with an old buddy tonight. A variety of noodles and broths to pick from and you order many small bowls. My go to is เล็กยำ, short for เส้นเล็กต้มยำ (thin rice noodles and a spicy broth). There’s a particular jargon to ordering. We finished *merely* 16 bowls between us.
An array of dishes of boat noodles, some with a light clear colored broth and ground pork, others with a dark broth and beef A stack of 16 emptied noodle bowls
August 6, 2024 at 4:13 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Chicken tom kha from the evening market for dinner last night. Bought a baggie to reheat at home.
A stainless steel stove on a gas grill, tom kha soup boiling in the pot. Lots of dark red roasted chili peppers floating on top, with chicken and chicken feet visible, and other seasoning ingredients. A dish of jasmine rice with tom kha broth and chicken spooned over it. A bowl of tom kha sits behind it. A mug of cold water is beside those.
August 6, 2024 at 4:06 PM
rikker.bsky.social
A simple old favorite for lunch today หมูทอดกระเทียม garlic pork over rice
A blue plastic plate on a stainless steel table, a tin mug full of ice water next to the plate. On the plate is stir fried pork over rice, with cucumber slices garnishing
August 1, 2024 at 8:42 AM
rikker.bsky.social
Went to a Japan-themed open air mall last week a couple hours outside of Bangkok and let the kids pick ramune drinks and other treats
Large grocery store display of different Kit Kat flavors from Japan Cold drinks shelf at a grocery store showing bottles of ramune soda in different flavors
July 14, 2024 at 2:21 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Dinner! Delightfully spicy glass noodle salad ยำวุ้นเส้น (yum woon sen) with shrimp and pork, and galangal soup with chicken ต้มข่าไก่ (tom kha kai)
A long plate of glass noodle salad — bed of leafy green one end, a mixture of glass noodles, cilantro sprigs, sliced tomatoes and onions, large shrimp, ground pork, and oodles of red chilis. Next to it a bowl of galangal soup: whitish broth tinged orange by the layer of chili oil floating on top. Roasted red chilis, tomato slices, and greens afloat on top.
July 14, 2024 at 2:16 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Afternoon snack with some friends
A plate of freshly cut fruit: dragonfruit, mango, red grapes, and apple slices
July 14, 2024 at 2:04 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Um, actually it’s
Picture of a touch screen coffee machine with “Dr. Coffee” in the corner of the display
July 10, 2024 at 12:11 AM
rikker.bsky.social
Family lunch from the rice shop 50 yards from our house. A quick phone call then walk to pick up ☺️

Crispy pork and Chinese kale stir fry, baby corn and pork oyster sauce stir fry, Thai pork fried rice, and minced pork holy basil stir fry
คะน้าหมูกรอบ
ข้าวโพดอ่อนหมูผัดน้ำมันหอย ใส่หมู
ข้าวผัดหมู
ผัดกะเพราหมูสับ
Four plastic takeaway boxes of different rice dishes, with leafy greens and red chilis stir fried in various ways with pork, boxes arranged close together and photographed from above with lids open. Foods are as named in the post.
June 26, 2024 at 7:11 AM
rikker.bsky.social
It’s that time again: back in Thailand with the family and up to my usual needless foodposting thread. You have been warned!!1!

First up: som tam and pork larb from the other day
Photo of minced pork larb and som tam (papaya salad), arranged on two adjacent white plastic plates with pink floral patterns, with a lil baggie of veggies to go with them in between, containing sliced cucumber, sliced cabbage, and Thai basil
June 26, 2024 at 7:01 AM
rikker.bsky.social
This amuses me more than it probably should.
A street sign reading “Street Road” hanging from a traffic light pole, with trees and blue sky in the background.
May 24, 2024 at 8:13 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Lucky this reel-to-reel tape player from the thrift store needed only minimal repair. Bought it to digitize old tapes my dad left me. Running some transfer tests as I work. Things like Robert Frost giving poetry readings at Dartmouth, or the moon landing broadcast my dad recorded off TV as a kid.
Photo of a 1970s Sony O Matic TC-105A reel-to-reel tape player and recorder sitting on a desk, playing an open reel tape. Sitting next to it on the desk connected by an audio cable is a small Zoom H1n digital recorder, with recording in progress. The box for the tape is also next to the recorder, Recoton brand tape, and handwritten on the 50-year-old box label is “Robert Frost, First aired Feb 2, 1967. Produced by WDCR, Hanover, NH. Spliced from old tapes. Old sound—uneven.” Closer view of a 1970s Sony O Matic TC-105A reel-to-reel tape player and recorder sitting on a desk, playing an open reel tape. Sitting next to it on the desk connected by an audio cable is a small Zoom H1n digital recorder, with recording in progress. The box for the tape is also next to the recorder, Recoton brand tape, and handwritten on the 50-year-old box label is “Robert Frost, First aired Feb 2, 1967. Produced by WDCR, Hanover, NH. Spliced from old tapes. Old sound—uneven.” Close up interior view of a Sony O Matic TC-105A tape recorder showing the various idler tires, gears, springs, and metal fly wheel, after repair.
March 8, 2024 at 6:12 PM
rikker.bsky.social
A joy to finally hold print copies of these! With a co-authored chapter in each volume, it’s exciting and humbling to be in the company of so many amazing contributors. Catch the vision for the future of the field.
Print copies of “decolonizing linguistics” and “inclusion in linguistics” from Oxford University press. Edited by Anne Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz
March 1, 2024 at 11:02 PM
rikker.bsky.social
Why yes, I am a glutton for adorable punishment, why do you ask?
A partially completed jigsaw puzzle where every piece is an edge piece. The picture on the puzzle is of a kitten standing on its hind paws holding a birthday cupcake with pink frosting and colorful confetti sprinkles, with a green lit candle in the cupcake. The background of the puzzle around the cat is a blue and yellow tiled floor. The kitten has been assembled, but most of the rest of the puzzle is not done yet, and all the remaining pieces are just shades of blue and yellow.
February 8, 2024 at 11:04 PM
rikker.bsky.social
These have been sitting in the living room since Christmas. Consensus, apparently, is that cranberry is only tasty one!
Green box of holiday-themed Jelly Belly brand jelly beans. Lid is off the box, showing five bean-shaped dishes inside the box, one for each flavor. Flavors are hot chocolate, egg nog, pumpkin pie, candy cane, and cranberry. Four are full, and the cranberry one has only a few beans left.
January 13, 2024 at 2:48 AM
rikker.bsky.social
Thanks again for spotting that. I updated the slides. Berkeley and UMass both gain a few more placements in the corrected chart (so it just makes things more lopsided!)
Chart of PhD institution for currently serving tenure-stream faculty at U.S./Canada Linguistics PhD-granting institutions (N=775)
January 12, 2024 at 8:40 PM