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Joe McVeigh

@eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social

440 followers 360 following 340 posts

I'm a linguist & sr lecturer at Metropolia Uni. I'm writing my PhD in marketing and linguistics at the University of Helsinki. I like #language & #linguistics, hockey, baseball and comic books - but maybe not in that order :) https://eviljoemcveigh.com

eviljoemcveigh.com

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 7d

When I look up "negging" in the dictionary

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 7d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Gretchen McCulloch @gretchenmcc.bsky.social · 11d

Hey. The fragmentation of the social media landscape has been hard on indie #scicomm 🧪 projects

So if you'd like to follow a podcast that's enthusiastic about #linguistics, could you check out @lingthusiasm.bsky.social?

And if you think your followers might like to, could you give this a repost?

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 11d

Something about local varieties (and maybe prestige varieties?) and how all varieties are valid.

Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 13d

I don't know if this is mean, but the Finnish word for "bachelor" translates literally as "boy-man" (poikamies). Not sure if it's a loan, but it was fun to encounter as a learner. Had a good laugh with a Finnish friend about it.

Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 15d

You can't say "happiness" without "peen"?

Image shows an ad that reads "You can't say happiness without PINE"

Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · 21d

Potential workaround if you're already logged in and get prompted by the ToS notification: opening this "privacy policy" link www.academia.edu/privacytakes you to a page where you can access the drop-down menu and reach "account settings." From there I was able to delete my account without agreeing.

Academia.edu | Privacy

Academia.edu is the platform to share, find, and explore 50 Million research papers. Join us to accelerate your research needs & academic interests.

www.academia.edu

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 19d

If it's a verb, "landslud"

Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 19d

I know things are bad now, but it's nice to see my home county and others trying to do good. www.inquirer.com/politics/pen...

How three of Philly’s collar counties are rushing to protect LGBTQ residents in the Trump era

Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties have moved over the course of a month to enact policies that would bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

www.inquirer.com

Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Erika’s (Too) Online @erikas.online · 23d

Do you like comic books and want to think more seriously about the linguistics of them?

Are you a social scientist or a linguist who wants to know more about nation-building or language planning in fiction?

HAVE I GOT EXACTLY THE ARTICLE YOU NEVER ASKED FOR, on CAMP Anthropology. 🐦🐦

X-Men, Krakoa, and Linguistic Sovereignty

by Erika Alpert Krakoan national co-founder Magneto explains to diplomats at the new Krakoan Embassy in Jerusalem why mutants have decided to create their own language, from House of X #1 (Hickman …

campanthropology.org

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 20d

This rules. Thank you for writing it.

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Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Miles, knitting screaming agony werewolf @queermedieval.bsky.social · 24d

shoutout to tumblr user kleinergeist for this post which is going straight into my powerpoint for Grendel day in my monster class this week

A screenshot of a tumblr post from user kleinergeist, reading "Oh, so when YOU grab a Danish for a quick snack, it's a guilt-free, tasty little treat. But when I, Grendel,"

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 25d

But wait, there's more Bat-guistics in this issue, chum! The Dark Knight is in York and recognizes that the villain's Estuary English accent is from London. That's why he's the world's greatest detective, folks. Good job, Bats!

#linguistics #comics

Image shows a panel from Detective Comics Annual #1 (2025) by Al Ewing, John McCrea, Stefano Raffaele and Fico Ossio. In the panel, a villain speaks to Batman and Batman's interior monologue says "An Estuary accent -- he's from London". The Estuary English variety is indeed found in London.

Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · 25d

There ain't no way that Batman can *add* vocal fry to his voice, is there?!

#linguistics #comics

Image shows a panel from Detective Comics Annual #1 (2025) by Al Ewing, John McCrea, Stefano Raffaele and Fico Ossio. In the panel, Batman's narrative says "I lighten and soften my natural growl, adding a little vocal fry and just a touch of Palo Alto." For the record, I don't know what adding "just a touch of Palo Alto" means.

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Sep 8

No problem! Glad you liked it 👍

Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Ryan Estrada @ryanestrada.com · Sep 6

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.

OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Bryan Blessed @bryb.bsky.social · Sep 1

This seems important:

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Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · Aug 23

On "woke language": yes, most of these terms aren't things Dems actually say but are a way for centrists and the GOP to attack them.

But also: many are terms intended to extend dignity and recognition to folks who our language excludes or cannot speak of. I'm not ready to concede the value of that.

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Aug 30

I don't have to tell them I'm ancient. They know 😅

Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Aug 30

That's what I tell my students. No matter what they turn in, I will give them feedback. And we can work on making it better. And if I see progress, they will do well in my class. Because the writing part is the whole point of the assignment, not the product! We are working together, not at odds.

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Aug 30

Thank you for calling!

Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Aug 30

Thanks! Glad it helps. Classes started this week and we had great discussions about it. Students are keen on having a clear policy and they have concerns of their own. For ex. are teachers uploading their writing to AI and are teachers using AI to create class material? Valid concerns if you ask me!

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Aug 22

Well, thank you for this! This literally never occurred to me but I bet some of my students are similar to you or all the other replies here. I'm going to have to give them some more options!

Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Lynne Murphy @lynneguist.bsky.social · Aug 21

I read the headline and thought "George Will is still alive?!"

And then I read the start of the article. Great minds, @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social

andreadallover.com/2025/08/11/g...

George Will’s incorrect and dangerous complaints about language

George Will wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post titled “Five words that today are gratingly misapplied or worn out”. It is not good. Let’s see why.

andreadallover.com

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Reposted by Joe McVeigh

Evan Bradley @yevb0.bsky.social · Aug 21

I had luck before on the badsite; let's try bsky:

this term I'm teaching intro linguistics with a typology/diversity lens

I love to harness expertise of friends/colleagues to show students languages I know little about

SO if you know/use/study a language that's not normative AmEng, I need YOU! 🧵

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Joe McVeigh @eviljoemcveigh.bsky.social · Aug 21

This was such a fun talk. And the students really responded to the part about Finnish. I was so worried I wouldn't be able to fill the time but their questions were great! We could have gone for longer.

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