I only just found out that the word "strewn" (as in "his clothes were strewn across the floor") is just the past tense of the verbal form of "straw" - the bits of wheat that get blown away when you harvest wheat.
So I lost my voice this weekend (it's recovering, I just did too much singing when I hadn't quite recovered from a cold) and the thing is I'm a linguist so the whole time I was just thinking oooh this is so communicatively interesting
A few thoughts:
—because he is also neurospicy (late dx and, mind you, we’re both over 50 and it was just in the last couple of years we realized this) and gets it.
Also very helpful when we’re in loud environments, or at a distance where we can see each other and don’t have to shout across a room or use phones.
I am late-diagnosed AuDHD and didn’t realize until now that times in the past where I literally just couldn’t talk (usually after working retail all day) were due to that. I already knew some basic signs from past friendships, so now with my partner, who also knows basic signs—it’s a comfort—
in Brazil now, there are bilingual integrated schools where deaf and hearing kids attend together but all kids learn Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) and class instruction is primarily in Libras. Both groups of kids benefit from exposure to the other and from learning the most inclusive language!
My dad is a pastor, married to an ASL interpreter and lifelong advocate. He’s not a strong signer, but he’s so eager to talk to people, and so unselfconscious about being wrong, that he makes every group he’s in more willing to take risks to have a conversation. It’s a good, distinct skill!
Yes, exactly
And the thing where a simplified "baby sign" gets recommended for hearing infants but deaf babies/kids are denied access to their local sign language that actually has a community behind it is a cruel irony
The more ASL and Deaf culture I learn, the more I appreciate the curb-cut effect of signing for so many different contexts (which should obviously not overwrite or replace their primary value to Deaf people)
linguists gonna, as the sages say, ling
I might've been able to produce some squeaks but at a certain point decided that trying would just make it take longer to recover, was actually easier once I went fully voice-off (bc again I did have practice in this mode)
I was mostly limited by the ASL levels of the other people around me
Yeah, I also had this experience of people responding to a vague approximation of what I maybe said rather than clarifying and it was not fun
I have to say, I was so relieved and delighted when anyone could sign at all even a little bit, it really made me realize I should be less self-conscious about not being as good a signer as I could be
(And 10/10 recommend learning your local sign language, and doing so from Deaf people)
I bet it does!
I met a few people at ASL camp last summer who were hearing but without a voice for various reasons, which was like oh duh of course signing would help, so I was grateful for their model when it happened to me temporarily (though probably also some differences if full time)
Some people talked louder (uh, my ears were fine)
Some withdrew apologetically
Some were happy to play gesture "charades" to have a convo
Some came up to me and started signing, I met some cool new folks this way!
One person went and learned a couple signs from others to chat with me!
I also got to navigate people's reactions!
Context: I was at a weekend-long event, so I made myself a little sign saying "lost my voice (ASL/gestures!)" to put next to my nametag, since I was interacting with a lot of people I didn't know
I was also grateful that studying ASL has given me practice watching Deaf people navigate communication with people who don't sign much/at all
So I had more focused gestures, pointing at menus, typing little notes on my phone for complex/precise stuff
Helpful strategies I didn't have to invent!
First off, I was sooo incredibly grateful I've been learning ASL the past few years!
This meant I could sign with a few friends who also had some ASL, which made a huge difference in how isolated I felt
So I lost my voice this weekend (it's recovering, I just did too much singing when I hadn't quite recovered from a cold) and the thing is I'm a linguist so the whole time I was just thinking oooh this is so communicatively interesting
A few thoughts:
I really enjoyed this thoughtful discussion between @superlinguo.bsky.social and @ceaubin.com
I’m a cognitive psychologist. Don’t tell me this isn’t a stroopwafel.
Was really enjoying listening to this in sunny Salzburg, feeling very hater-y, only to literally trip up over the shout out to my episode! But I'm unhurt and this woman definitely sucked.
Linguists?
Good thread from a human on the linguistics behind "it's not X, it's Y"
Sepia photograph of a woman in a suit jacket and head wrap, her face scribbled out. Below it, “featuring with a drawing of Lauren Gawne from Lingthusiasm
TOMORROW ON @thisguysucked.com: TGS is teaming up with @superlinguo.bsky.social and @lingthusiasm.com for an episode you won’t be able to forget, although you might really, really want to! In it, we prove that Australia has spent the past few centuries being a weird bad place.
I love it whenever @superlinguo.bsky.social does an interview because it's an extra bonus episode 100% tailored to my interests just for meeeee
(Okay I guess the rest of you get to listen too, she's been hyping this one to me a lot during Lingthusiasm production meetings)
Forgive the impudent piggybacking on someone else’s excellent article, but you'd like to read more about English’s old dual pronouns, here’s a piece of mine in which I gathered up the remnants of the dual across Indo-European, from Sanskrit to Slovenian.
dannybate.com/2024/03/27/t...
that shit is CURDLING
omg can I rant to you about the regency-ish setting I read once where a character who'd let a few rooms just happened to have fresh milk available for tea
like was it sitting in your cupboard all day?? dude wasn't in a big house with a dairy or something either, absolutely took me out
