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[Original post on mastodon.nz]

The wind has definitely picked up in Ōtautahi (Chch). Hope everyone in the path of the ex-tropical cyclone.

First game of the rugby season done and dusted. We lost, but it was probably one of the best games I've played. One thing I've missed being away from hom has been being part of a (sometimes imperfect) community.

Just warning you, I'm a terrible gamer but it's good entertainment trying to figure out how to switch off autopilot as I hurtle towards the sun

Outer Wilds | First Playthrough | Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls | Part 1 YouTube video by Sidney Wong

If you don't have much to do over the weekend, I've started recording and sharing my first playthrough of #OuterWilds. My mate told me it's one of his favourite games, and the only way to re-experience it is through the eyes of a first playthrough. youtu.be/5Cz5p-NncxQ

Said the person with a recognisably Australian accent. I had to move away because eavesdropping is rude, but as a sociolinguist it did pique my interest

Overheard at the airport: "you don't really have a New Zealand accent, you sound normal" 🤦🏻‍♂️

What a coincidence today is also Ching Ming 清明 also known as the Tomb Sweeping Festival. A day to reflect on those who've come before us.

This 💯

I might've flown a bit close to the sun making it to the airport five minutes before bag drop closed. I made it though!

How stereotypical for Google reckons it's difficult to say 'I love you' in Cantonese

Okay, Google. I'm just trying to make sure I have the right vocab to talk about my new job when I go home, but why did you have to make it personal 😭

👀 "And this is what no one is willing to talk about ..."

Report to the prime minister: prioritisation in new zealand's science, innovation and technology system

new zealand's 47-page govt report on science, out today, uses the terms "basic science", "discovery science", and "fundamental science" zero times

"curiosity-driven research" appears only in regard to cutting it

a foolish report released on April Fool's Day

www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/repor...

[1] Canta Pride Issue: publuu.com/flip-book/10...
[2] Wellbeing Statistics 2023: www.stats.govt.nz/information-...
[3] Unleashing the Social Impact of Hate Speech Research: journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/...

If you could take one thing away from this article is that context matters and the way people use their language does have an impact on other people. Happy Pride! 🪅

Similarly, people may develop new words (or adopt old words) to further marginalise already vulnerable or minoritised people and their communities.

As part of my research into automatic hate speech detection [3], I found that we can't just rely on slurs as keywords to detect or monitor the rise in hate speech as the meaning of words change (for better or worse).

Based on the latest GSS [2], LGBT+ people were more than twice as likely to have experienced discrimination in the last 12 months than non-LGBT+ people in the form of unfair treatment in Aotearoa. This may present itself in the form of slurs, hate speech, and offensive language.

It's the end of Pride Month* in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) and it was an absolute pleasure to speak with feature writer, Jacob Sanson, about 'casual' Queerphobia in the Pride Issue of Canta [1], the official magazine of the UCSA.

*Yes, Pride Month occurs in March here

Average pic of Chch

Kia ora! Thank you! It felt disingenuous not to include some pop culture in my opening remarks. I'll progressively share more of my findings 💖

Viva Voce (Oral Examination) Opening Remarks On Friday, 27 March I had the pleasure of defending my PhD thesis "Language, Place, and Social Media: Geographic Dialect Alignment in New Zealand". These were my opening remakrs.

For those interested, I've posted the opening remarks of my viva voce (oral examination) on substack which provides an overview of my PhD research and research journey. sidneygjwong.substack.com/p/viva-voce-...

As I mentioned in the Acknowledgements, if I had to properly acknowledge everyone who supported me through this academic journey, it would probably be as long as my thesis.

I want to thank the examiners (Assoc. Prof. Hunter Hatfield and Prof. Benedikt Szmrecsanyi), the examination chair (Assoc. Prof. Lynn Clark), and my supervisory team (Assoc. Prof. Ben Adams, Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Dunn, Dr. Kongmeng Liew, and Prof. Jen Hay) for their support through this process.

It is with great pleasure to share that I've successfully defended my PhD thesis: "Language, Place, and Social Media: Geographic Dialect Alignment in New Zealand" with the recommendation I be awarded the Doctoral degree subject to the satisfactory completion of minor amendments.

Big Potato (Xylofagou) - Wikipedia

I learnt today there is a giant potato in Cyprus and I want to make it my life goal to see it 🥔

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Pot...

Spoiler Alert: Project Hail Mary

I felt like such a nerd thinking how to build a basic vocabulary with Rocky using a Swadesh list

I'm now engaging with Gen Alpha discourse

I'm back, baby!