Nick King
@nickking.bsky.social
Look at the following ⬇️ and work me out. All help gratefully received. And yes, I like tiles...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Less 🤐 more 🤬
Less 🤐 more 🤬
Don’t hold back, swearing can boost performance by lowering inhibitions, study finds
Study finds dropping an expletive can raise confidence and help people push harder during physically demanding tasks
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Less 🤐 more 🤬
Less 🤐 more 🤬
Interesting Christmas present courtesy of Tesco. Maybe not on everyone's list, but some Scouse pride on show in Liverpool today. Not sure anyone is losing their accent round here though tbh...
December 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Interesting Christmas present courtesy of Tesco. Maybe not on everyone's list, but some Scouse pride on show in Liverpool today. Not sure anyone is losing their accent round here though tbh...
Reposted by Nick King
A young student from my alma mater, Tulane, interviewed me about breaking into journalism, and then specialising, & my career path since.
Maybe it'll be useful to someone you know; I did not grow up around media and so my flailing may be instructive.
www.thepathwayblogkc.com/blog/lane-gr...
Maybe it'll be useful to someone you know; I did not grow up around media and so my flailing may be instructive.
www.thepathwayblogkc.com/blog/lane-gr...
Lane Greene on Breaking Into Journalism, Becoming “the Language Guy,” and Writing Clearly
Lane Greene is a senior digital editor and style chief at The Economist , and one of the few journalists writing regularly about language with a grounding in linguistics. A Tulane graduate and...
www.thepathwayblogkc.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
A young student from my alma mater, Tulane, interviewed me about breaking into journalism, and then specialising, & my career path since.
Maybe it'll be useful to someone you know; I did not grow up around media and so my flailing may be instructive.
www.thepathwayblogkc.com/blog/lane-gr...
Maybe it'll be useful to someone you know; I did not grow up around media and so my flailing may be instructive.
www.thepathwayblogkc.com/blog/lane-gr...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Great for A level English Language change and diversity and #woty fever
Great for A level English Language change and diversity and #woty fever
Slang terms like ‘six-seven’ have no definition. But they’re loaded with meaning | Matthew Cantor
Older generations are demanding explanations of the viral phrase – but slang doesn’t have to make logical sense
www.theguardian.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:42 PM
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Great for A level English Language change and diversity and #woty fever
Great for A level English Language change and diversity and #woty fever
Reposted by Nick King
A former Tory councillor tried to ban my novel Pigeon English. Why should pupils suffer because of him?
A former Tory councillor tried to ban my novel Pigeon English. Why should pupils suffer because of him?
My book, which draws on my upbringing on a diverse and deprived Luton council estate, has been used as a GCSE text. But one man objected to its profane language and depictions of violence and sexual behaviour
www.theguardian.com
October 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
A former Tory councillor tried to ban my novel Pigeon English. Why should pupils suffer because of him?
Reposted by Nick King
"Students, and increasingly all of us, risk becoming editors of what has already been said, where the future is built only from recycled fragments of yesterday’s data."
theconversation.com/how-generati...
theconversation.com/how-generati...
How generative AI could change how we think and speak
Over-reliance on chatbots could be eroding our language and critical thinking skills.
theconversation.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:39 AM
"Students, and increasingly all of us, risk becoming editors of what has already been said, where the future is built only from recycled fragments of yesterday’s data."
theconversation.com/how-generati...
theconversation.com/how-generati...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
Nice balance of doom and bigger picture for English globally
Nice balance of doom and bigger picture for English globally
Young Finns snub their mother tongue by reading in English
Publishers fear for the future of translated literature as sales of foreign language books rise
www.theguardian.com
September 22, 2025 at 4:52 PM
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
Nice balance of doom and bigger picture for English globally
Nice balance of doom and bigger picture for English globally
Reposted by Nick King
Here’s a poem called ‘English Roundabouts’.
September 15, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Here’s a poem called ‘English Roundabouts’.
Reposted by Nick King
We have a whole host of courses for A Level English Language coming up this term, as well as conferences and webinars, so have a look here for a few more details.
mailchi.mp/c896dfc7ea91...
mailchi.mp/c896dfc7ea91...
Essential A Level Language CPD
mailchi.mp
September 8, 2025 at 10:25 AM
We have a whole host of courses for A Level English Language coming up this term, as well as conferences and webinars, so have a look here for a few more details.
mailchi.mp/c896dfc7ea91...
mailchi.mp/c896dfc7ea91...
Reposted by Nick King
Nighthawks - 1942
https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3103259
https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3103259
September 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Nighthawks - 1942
https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3103259
https://botfrens.com/collections/173/contents/3103259
Reposted by Nick King
This poem is dedicated to all those who see fit to correct my grammar and spelling on here. It’s called ‘Pedents’.
September 8, 2025 at 8:57 AM
This poem is dedicated to all those who see fit to correct my grammar and spelling on here. It’s called ‘Pedents’.
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...
Quite a nice little noun phrase piece
Quite a nice little noun phrase piece
Cod digits and striped equids: new book celebrates media staple ‘the second mention’
Married monographers have collated sometimes absurd word choices through which journalists avoid repetition
www.theguardian.com
September 7, 2025 at 8:12 PM
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/s...
Quite a nice little noun phrase piece
Quite a nice little noun phrase piece
Reposted by Nick King
Welcome to the new academic year and the course, if you have just started A-level English Language. This account posts links to stories and ideas for language study, including articles, research, courses, conferences and more. Send me any good things you notice and I'll share them.
September 5, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Welcome to the new academic year and the course, if you have just started A-level English Language. This account posts links to stories and ideas for language study, including articles, research, courses, conferences and more. Send me any good things you notice and I'll share them.
Phew
September 4, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Phew
Reposted by Nick King
Interesting read on code switching/style shifting.
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...
Cringe or comfort? Why some Black people ‘code switch’ their accents
Dialects are powerful identifiers, especially when you’re from an ethnic minority
www.theguardian.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Interesting read on code switching/style shifting.
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...
Reposted by Nick King
This is a really thoughtful reflection from Deborah Cameron on the ideas of Robin Lakoff (who died earlier this month) and her legacy.
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/r...
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/r...
Remembering Robin Lakoff
This month we learned that the linguist Robin Lakoff had died at the age of 82. If you’ve heard of Lakoff you will probably know her as the author of Language and Woman’s Place (LWP), an early and …
debuk.wordpress.com
August 27, 2025 at 7:13 PM
This is a really thoughtful reflection from Deborah Cameron on the ideas of Robin Lakoff (who died earlier this month) and her legacy.
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/r...
debuk.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/r...
Reposted by Nick King
Reet ladging, but it's got a focus on AI chatbots and Yorkshire dialect...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
I spoke to the AI avatar of a Leeds MP. How did it cope with my Yorkshire accent?
Leeds MP Mark Sewards has launched a digital assistant, but the results of my chat show MPs’ aides ’ave nowt to worry about
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reet ladging, but it's got a focus on AI chatbots and Yorkshire dialect...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
"What a beautiful accent. I would have been president twenty years ago if I'd had that accent."
Wow. Where to start?
Wow. Where to start?
February 27, 2025 at 8:46 PM
"What a beautiful accent. I would have been president twenty years ago if I'd had that accent."
Wow. Where to start?
Wow. Where to start?
Reposted by Nick King
A Level Eng Lang teachers, can you help?
Anika Gerfer (University of Münster) is looking for people with contacts to secondary schools in England for a study on accent perception. Her contact info is on the flyer, feel free to share! #Linguistics
January 15, 2025 at 1:29 PM
A Level Eng Lang teachers, can you help?
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Interesting to see 'yous' in younger Essex speakers. Being an Essex boy on Merseyside this is really useful for dialect lessons!
Interesting to see 'yous' in younger Essex speakers. Being an Essex boy on Merseyside this is really useful for dialect lessons!
Cockney influences found in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand, says expert
Linguistics professor says London dialect is most likely to be spoken in Essex, but aspects have traversed the globe
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Interesting to see 'yous' in younger Essex speakers. Being an Essex boy on Merseyside this is really useful for dialect lessons!
Interesting to see 'yous' in younger Essex speakers. Being an Essex boy on Merseyside this is really useful for dialect lessons!
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
This is a mad read but I like how we have 'flake' in multiple grammatical roles here. Good for language change.
#noflaking😉
This is a mad read but I like how we have 'flake' in multiple grammatical roles here. Good for language change.
#noflaking😉
‘People feel they don’t owe anyone anything’: the rise in ‘flaking’ out of social plans
Some call dropping out of events at late notice, even weddings and funerals, self-care, others call it selfishness
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2025 at 5:05 PM
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
This is a mad read but I like how we have 'flake' in multiple grammatical roles here. Good for language change.
#noflaking😉
This is a mad read but I like how we have 'flake' in multiple grammatical roles here. Good for language change.
#noflaking😉
Reposted by Nick King
Bill Labov died this morning. I'm not coherent enough to talk about how important and influential and brilliant he was. I am very sad.
I was so lucky to know him, and I am grateful every day that he (and Gillian, and Walt, etc) built an academic field where kindness is expected.
I was so lucky to know him, and I am grateful every day that he (and Gillian, and Walt, etc) built an academic field where kindness is expected.
December 18, 2024 at 2:08 AM
Bill Labov died this morning. I'm not coherent enough to talk about how important and influential and brilliant he was. I am very sad.
I was so lucky to know him, and I am grateful every day that he (and Gillian, and Walt, etc) built an academic field where kindness is expected.
I was so lucky to know him, and I am grateful every day that he (and Gillian, and Walt, etc) built an academic field where kindness is expected.
Brilliant afternoon with @robdrummond.bsky.social talking all things accent, and how he says "kind of" a lot...
Many thanks Rob!
Many thanks Rob!
December 6, 2024 at 4:07 PM
Brilliant afternoon with @robdrummond.bsky.social talking all things accent, and how he says "kind of" a lot...
Many thanks Rob!
Many thanks Rob!