Geoffrey Nunberg

Linguist, teach at @BerkeleyIschool, Language Guy on @nprfreshair, contributor to @LanguageLog, Books: Ascent of the A-Word, Talking Right, Going Nucular [sic]

[James @JamesDoubek]

I tried to use as many pretentious big words as I could in this article: "Regardless Of What You Think, 'Irregardless' Is A Word" https://t.co/g124zFWGAZ

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

Is Trump's Call For 'Law And Order' A Coded Racial Message? https://t.co/aTh9Z6alpx

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

Quoted in today’s NYT: “Trump’s single-handed effort to revive the slogan ‘law and order’ is the key to creating the perception of a new crisis of crime and violence.” https://t.co/2wk6a6cS9P

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

In retrospect, therere are stilll lots of front-runners for words of the century, but if we're going to get there marching under a single banner, it will bear the device, "Put that fucking thing down, will you?"

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

Ski

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

The epicurean’s guide to Italian velar orthography;
Cs & gs ,soft as Sardinian bonassai,
When they precede an e or i,
But hard as frozen pizza dough,
Before an h, a, u or o.

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

@PeterSokolowski And run around in embroidered green jackkets. Kermit en vaudroillle!

[Ben Zimmer @bgzimmer]

"Fiasco" has been a popular label to describe the seemingly never-ending drama surrounding the Iowa caucuses. For @WSJ, I look at the word's mysterious origins in Italian theatrical slang. https://t.co/qcjrCxSCwk

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

@bgzimmer @WSJ A moment’s Zimmering would have turned this up.

[Ben Zimmer @bgzimmer]

@GeoffNunberg @WSJ Been there, done that! https://t.co/mYFJitg4gb

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

“Wow”—nice take on a ubiquitous ejaculation for a proceeding whose every turn merits either astonishment or sarcasm. I’m quoted.

[Katie Shepherd @katemshepherd]

Wow. Have you noticed a lot of impeachment tweets start the same way? https://t.co/VOzRqu2a0m

[Allyson Chiu @_allysonchiu]

“Stop normalizing racism”: Amid backlash, UC-Berkeley apologizes for listing xenophobia under “common reactions” to coronavirus
https://t.co/d0NC9x4EOD

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

@BryanAGarner The singular criteria seems endemic in the Senate—perhaps a nod to a populist groundswell?

[UC Berkeley @UCBerkeley]

"The term "dezinformatsiya" was reputedly coined by no less than Josef Stalin in the 1920s as the name of the section of the KGB tasked with deceiving enemies and influencing public opinion." #Disinformation ☎️ #WordOfTheYear 💬 @GeoffNunberg
https://t.co/2WbEpd2Uan

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

@lanegreene Also Bowery.

[John McIntyre @johnemcintyre]

For Fowler’s sake, just stop saying “epicenter” when you only mean “center.” You know who you are.

[Ben Zimmer @bgzimmer]

In the impeachment trial, John Roberts pulled out the old word "pettifogging" (a back-formation of "pettifogger"). https://t.co/fbCCGbzr0U I wrote about the history of "pettifoggery" in a @WSJ column in 2018, when it popped up in the Mueller probe. https://t.co/JKXDYChw4e

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

@rhepstein1 @jessesheidlower @fivetonsflax not to mention 'hylopatidaen', which comes in handy in a double dactyl:
https://t.co/7IQmlQOj2c

[Geoffrey Nunberg @GeoffNunberg]

@jessesheidlower @fivetonsflax True enough. I think we should make a special effort to preserve and promote our double dactyls, though, from ‘monomaniacal’ to ‘plenipotentiary’.