Tony Thorne
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tonythorne007.bsky.social
Tony Thorne
@tonythorne007.bsky.social
Slang, new language, etymology, cultural history. Language Consultant at King's College London.
Dusk…
February 10, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
February 10, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Been saying the EU target should be "2 languages (English plus)" forever. Spaniards sometimes say they can't make room to teach Catalan or Galician or Basque to Castilian-speakers because their English is so poor. Wrong! Good language learning culture benefits all.
February 10, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
This of course could have been resolved ages ago if Starmer had bothered to appoint a Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
BBC World Service faces funding cliff edge in seven weeks, says Tim Davie
As trust in Russia and China’s state broadcasters grows, director general warns of the dangers of cutting back the service
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 2:41 PM
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Did one!

Not listed and should be? Let me know 🙂

go.bsky.app/AT6KX6X
November 16, 2024 at 9:31 AM
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Fake and AI generated 'experts' are being quoted in articles in the UK press. "Out of a sample of 250 expert-quoting articles published in The Sun, Daily Express, Mirror, Daily Mail and Daily Star in 2025 and late 2024, 28 experts do not exist".
pressgazette.co.uk/news/faces-o...
Faces of fakery: More fake and AI generated experts con their way into media
New research from Press Gazette has uncovered a fresh tranche of likely fake and AI-generated experts making their way into UK publications.
pressgazette.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
The verb ‘to worry’ has surprising family members.

Within Germanic, it’s related to German ‘würgen’ and Dutch ‘wurgen’, which mean “to strangle”.

A little further down the family line, they’re related to Latin ‘urgēre’ (to press), which gave English ‘urgent’.

Click my new graphic to learn more:
February 4, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
📣Calling teachers of #French in all education sectors in Scotland! Sign up for the online launch of our Teachers of French in Scotland association, aka TOFIS on 23 Feb at 4.15: https://loom.ly/q3sz-VA

PS - you'll want to save the date for our next Future of French en Écosse forum too!
February 10, 2026 at 11:01 AM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
🔐 My paper "Semantics and pragmatics in Construction Grammar” is now Open Access!

It challenges the blurred lines between semantics and pragmatics in CxG, advocating for clearer distinctions to enhance our understanding of linguistic constructions.

🔗 Read it here: doi.org/10.1075/bjl....
Semantics and pragmatics in Construction Grammar
Abstract This squib provides a theoretical discussion on the use of the terms semantics and pragmatics in Construction Grammar. In the literature, the difference between semantics and pragmatics is of...
doi.org
February 10, 2026 at 10:56 AM
Word of the Day (it was used of Farage's latest promotion of weaponised nostalgia yesterday): 'boomerslop'...https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-ai-vibes-app-videos-trump-slop-boomer-2025-11
February 10, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Advanced notice 👇
The 18th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics (IAFLL 2027) will be held in Porto, Portugal, 12-16 July 2027 hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto.
#ForensicLinguistics
February 9, 2026 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Feb emagazine is now online and the print issue will be in schools in the next couple of weeks. It's chocabloc with great pieces. In this thread I'll give a taster of some of them. If you've not yet subscribed or re-subscribed, it's not too late! 🧵 1/
englishandmedia.co.uk/emc-magazines/
February 9, 2026 at 9:45 AM
Much maligned - and wrongly so...https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/feb/09/gordon-brown-by-james-macintyre-review-a-very-different-kind-of-politician?CMP=share_btn_url
Gordon Brown by James Macintyre review – a very different kind of politician
A new biography reveals Brown to be a man of exceptional vision and probity – what a contrast with today’s politics
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:09 AM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Here's the abstract for my talk in two weeks at Columbia U's linguistics department on profanity and what it's good for. It will be, as always, very fun.
February 8, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Chi ha scritto questo titolo non conosce il significato della parola BANDO in italiano. Presumo sia una traduzione dell'inglese BAN, ma sono #falsiamici. Dettagli: www.terminologiaetc.it/2017/06/27/f...
February 8, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
My WORD OF THE WEEK for the coming week is ‘weary’ (not bc I’m exhausted, haha 🤭 but bc it popped up in Richardson’s PAMELA which we’re reading with the second years & it made me think of its etymology in Old English, ‘werig’ and Grendel limping back to the mere ‘werigmod’, weary in spirit).
This week's WORD OF THE WEEK challenge yielded: tragical, caterwaul, sproglet, rakehell, serendipity, vampire, cadence, misandry, & orange. And my choices were the northern dialect words nesh & jiggered!
February 8, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Apart from everything else I think the word ‘loser’ is only ever used by the very worst people in the English-speaking world (it is borrowed by French and German speakers too, sometimes ironically, sometimes not)
Trump calls US Olympian 'a real loser' for saying he represents what’s 'good about the US'
Trump calls US Olympian 'a real loser' for saying he represents what’s 'good about the US'
President Donald Trump on Sunday jumped into the fray of MAGA Republicans complaining about U.S. athletes at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan who’ve expressed unease about recent actions by the federal government. As the New York Times reports, “By Sunday morning, no member of the U.S. team in Italy had spoken publicly in support of the Trump administration. U.S. Olympic committee guidelines stipulate that athletes can advocate social and racial justice, but should avoid partisan politics.” Still, athletes have been forced to answer questions about what it means to represent the U.S. in the age of Trump. “It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think,” first-time Team USA Olympic skier Hunter Hess said Friday. “It’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t.” "I think, for me, it’s more I’m representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S,” he added. Hess’ remarks appeared to pierce through Trump’s algorithm by Sunday Morning. Posting on Truth Social, the president called Hess, a skier representing the country he leads, “a real loser.” “U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics.” Trump said. “If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
bit.ly
February 8, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
the miniature therapy horses that do hospital visits have little sneakers that they wear inside so they don't scuff up the floors
February 7, 2026 at 4:18 AM
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📜 From Old Books, 19th Century

"Your image never fades from my heart,
Even if valleys lie between us.
For you, I have sown the seed of love in my heart;
Harvest it each year until my death."
February 8, 2026 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
And so much of this is culturally determined.

How Sweden survives without small talk.

youtu.be/_JrfZH3VZSI?...
How Sweden survives without small talk - BBC REEL
YouTube video by BBC Global
youtu.be
February 8, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Are you an early career researcher interested in communicating linguistics to broader audiences?

Consider applying for a @lingcomm.org grant!
Deadline April 30, via @lingthusiasm.com

lingcomm.org/grants/
Grants
2026 LingComm Grants – Small Grants for Communicating Linguistics to Wider Audiences We want to see more linguistics in the world!  The 2026 LingComm Grants are $300 (USD) to support lin…
lingcomm.org
February 8, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
A particularly fun one. Thank you Yoïn!
In Spanish, “for you” is ‘para ti’, but “with you” isn’t ‘con ti’: it’s ‘contigo’ instead.

What’s this ‘-go’ doing there?

It’s a remnant of the same Latin word that gave us ‘con’.

So etymologically, ‘contigo’ contains this word twice: “with you-with”.

Click my graphic to read the full story:

1/
February 8, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
VENUE, un anglicismo* sotto osservazione:
www.terminologiaetc.it/2026/02/07/s...

*superfluo!
Le “venues” di Milano Cortina 2026
Con i giochi olimpici è arrivato il nuovo “location”?
www.terminologiaetc.it
February 7, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Tony Thorne
Please stop using substack
“The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism, a Guardian investigation has found…” www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters
Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:13 PM