Coming up on 29 July: I'm excited to present a keynote as part of AASTMT's symposium on "Forensic Linguistics across Legal, Digital and Public Discourses"! I'll be discussing what makes data "legal" and why that status does (or sometimes doesn't) matter. It'll be a fun day; come along if you can!

This afternoon at #CL2025: Annina Van Riper on "Linguistic mechanisms of trust in the Pick-Up artist community: a multidimensional analysis". There are some interesting parallels here between PUAs and Sovereign Citizen "gurus"!

@debbiecabral.bsky.social leads us through her approach to dealing with issues of relevance and dispersion in corpus analysis as the BAAL Corpus SIG panel continues #CL2025

Siân Alsop opens the BAAL Corpus SIG panel on "Methodological innovation in applied corpus linguistics" by explaining her work on the Children's Storybook Corpus. Next up @debbiecabral.bsky.social and then me! #CL2025

And we're off! @robbielove.org opens #CL2025 on what is looking to be a sweltering day in Birmingham

I've been looking forward to getting my hands on this one for a while! Congratulations to @drjoemcintyre.bsky.social @dnetolitzky.bsky.social @drsarteschi.bsky.social and everyone else involved in this important and exciting project.

We got married at the end of November! It was the absolute best day.

I hope to be able to announce some more publications in the not too distant future, but that's it for now! Finally, as promised, a photo of my dog, Cori, chilling out on a sheepskin rug.

I'm fascinated by these "social media post as revocation of consent" things. They're essentially chain letters with a few legal-sounding terms thrown in to make them seem "powerful", but the second you try to really parse what's going on they all fall apart; classic SovCit behavior, really.

I haven't lived in the US since 2016 or in the Chicago area since 2013, but that has not dampened my enthusiasm for newsletter I get from my home suburb. Can't wait to see the improved Crawford Avenue! (Another recent newsletter announced some "public art" which was basically a fancy bench).

I signed up when you still needed an invite code! Though I've only really been active more recently.

Finished my new half sleeve with George Marsden at Stronghold Tattoo in Cardiff today! George is the best and I'd recommend him to anyone.

I took a shot at American/Scottish fusion cuisine yesterday with my second attempt at haggis deep dish #pizza. Turned out great! I'd love to have a clearer whisky element in there but it just kind of disappears when I work it into the sauce; I'd love any suggestions! Paging @jeffsachs.bsky.social

I've made a similar joke for a few years now! It usually gets at least one groan of recognition, but my followup suggestion that "Law is patient, law is kind" is only ever met with baffled silence (I don't intend to stop, regardless).

I've always found it difficult to define legal language in a way that is both comprehensive and satisfying. Maybe that's because, unlike Prof. Dr. K.L. Bhatia, I've never tried to do it in verse. From "Textbook on Legal Langauge and Legal Writing" (3rd ed. 2016) pp. 5-8: #poetry #law #linguistics

Some exciting personal news: we got engaged last night while camping in west Wales! I'm absolutely thrilled.

I submitted my PhD thesis last September, passed my viva in November, turned in my corrections in December, received my diploma in January, and last Friday I attended my PhD graduation! It doesn't get any more officially over than this; what a journey!