An ongoing effort to seek out, make observations about, and highlight contemporary examples of language, literacy, and culture in action in global media.
Raleigh, NC
Joined August 2009
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New TikTok trend: βde-influencersβ β users leveraging their platforms to tell people what NOT to buy! But alternatives offered as well. #deinfluencing
apnews.com/article/technologβ¦
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
OED #WordOfTheDay: bodhran, n.
A type of drum used in Irish folk music, typically held on the player's lap and hit either with the palm of the hand or with a wooden stick.
View the entry: oxford.ly/4lS6oHC
ALT The OED definition of 'bodhran', today's word of the day
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
From trendy slang to enduring terminology, discover the depth of the African American lexicon with Dr. Tracey Weldon.
Find out more: oxford.ly/4cPAUxQ
@lsa2025_uo
ALT ODAAE Oxford Dictionary of African American English Part of LSA 2025 Summer Institute: Word Up! A Focus on the African American Lexicon Led by Instructor Dr Tracey Weldon, American Dialect Society Professor for University of South Carolina July 7 to July 22 on Tuesdays and Fridays
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
OED #WordOfTheDay: mic drop, n.
An act of deliberately and demonstratively dropping a microphone at the end of a performance, speech, etc., to convey that one considers it to be definitive or particularly impressiveβ¦
View the entry: oxford.ly/44hdMX0
ALT The OED definition of 'mic drop', today's word of the day
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
Truth-telling shouldnβt come with threats, especially not to a college community.
The fact that speaking hard truths in 2025 still evokes the same hate MLK faced in the 1960s is a stark reminder of how far we still have to go.
Stand strong, Rep. Crockett. Courage always wins over fear.
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
No low is too low for MAGA⦠now explain to me why an institution would be receiving threats because of the commencement speech that I GAVE.
This type of behavior is why Iβm constantly having to be protected & I understand that truth telling in this country; sadly, is a dangerous business, but college students donβt deserve this.
As a side note: you consistently prove me right & just as this was the only campus that MLK could speak at in Mississippi in the 1960sβ¦ itβs 2025, and this country is still stuck on hateβ¦ Iβm proud to say Tougaloo is tough & so am I.
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
π§΅1/ While America slept, House Republicans launched a sneak attack on our public landsβand veterans and military families should be outraged. Hereβs what happened last night and why it matters: #KeepPublicLandsPublic
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Boasberg is pressing DOJ about Trump's comment that he could pick up the phone and have El Salvador send back Abrego Garcia. Doesn't that mean U.S. effectively has custody over deported migrants, he's asking?
DOJ LAWYER ABISHEK KAMBLI:
βThat goes toward the presidentβs belief about the influence that he has.β
"Influence does not equate to constructive custody."
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
This is what happens when you appoint a pundit instead of a professional. Two F/A-18s lost in a week and not a word from Hegseth.
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
This is what happens when Trump and his MAGA circus take the wheelβplanes are literally falling out of the sky, and now jets are sliding off ships like itβs a bad comedy sketch! Two F/A-18s lost in a week from the USS Harry S. Truman, $60M down the drain each time, and whereβs the accountability? Hegseth is too busy doing push-ups for the cameras while our military crumbles under this clown show. MAGA "leadership" is a disasterβour troops and taxpayers deserve better than this reckless mess!
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
How has this being normalised, how is this being accepted by Western leaders. Only today Ursula VDL brags of help the EU is sending to Israel to tackle the fires. Meanwhile silence for this barbarity, worse, support for the state inflicting it #Israel
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
.@amanpour: They say that no medicine is coming in [Gaza], no food, no water, what is the actual conditions, international aid agencies say theyβre running out of everything?
Dr. Attar: Theyβre rationing, theyβre running outβ¦theyβre pretty much running on fumes
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
Dr. Attar was at Al Ahli hospital when Israel attacked it.
βWhen I came downstairs there were about 40-50 patients, and a lot of them are little kids, they have amputations and broken bonesβ¦If the hospital was gonna get bombed, we decided we were gonna die with our patients, taking care of them, not running away from them. And then the hospital did get hit and portions of the ceiling collapsed on us, we thought we were gonna get buried alive.β
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
When a trauma surgeon says even horror movies canβt compare, youβre not talking about war, youβre talking about something far darker.
And still, world leaders stall on βstrongly worded concerns.β
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
As Israel continues its aid blockade and bombardment of Gaza, Dr. Samer Attar, an American surgeon who's just returned recounts what he witnessed: "I don't think a horror movie could fictionalize how these scenes are any more sick, twisted and disturbing."
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
People in Gaza are taking to the streets chanting, βWe want to eat, we want to eat.β
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
If only you had some kind of leverage you could use to do more than βurgeβ Israel to stop starving people.
Israel has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into #Gaza for over 50 days. We urge Israel to immediately re-start a rapid & unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid. Humanitarians must be able to help those who need it most.
E3 Foreign Ministers statement: diplo.de/2714878
Language Today π£οΈπππ§ retweeted
Right β to extend the metaphor, the wood isnβt nice at all itβs actually shitty clapboard, which is what makes the New Yorker article not simply inane and professionally treasonous but also embarrassing.
teapawt.net/CharlesCMann/status/19β¦
