Comments on: Reviewing previously recommended blog sites

By: Bill Bartmann

Bill Bartmann — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:26:01 +0000

Excellent site, keep up the good work

By: alaskanbeader

alaskanbeader — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 06:21:46 +0000

Actually I have spent the bulk of my language research with the likes of Chomsky and Tannen, but having just pulled Pinker up lets me know that yes I have played in the language fields that he developed in, we just hadn’t ‘bumped into and hallooed” each other.
Another interesting time that people swear is as the first utterances after a stroke.

By: Chris L

Chris L — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:14:13 +0000

Some interesting observations, particularly regarding the thinkingblog and profanity, which is one facet of the larger set of issues of tone and style in communication, particularly now that more people can communicate more easily with the rest of the world.

But profanity specifically interests me… have you read much by Pinker on language? I ask because your take that profanity is a glitch in the mental processes makes me recall some of his discussions about where profanity and other language comes from and if profanity in particular isn’t actually a facet of a completely different area of the brain… there are so many cases of people with head injuries who can’t speak, but can swear, and then there are things like Tourette’s syndrome– why do people break out into profanity so often but other types of language so infrequently? Fascinating stuff.

Incidentally, the slashfood site has been a regular stop for me since you posted it earlier…