11 words that are much older than you think

Cheating a bit, but less than you'd expect.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/01/words-much-older-than-you-think-language

Hard at work on Magazine Activity 2014

Gabby working on her article for BITE BACK magazine.

European word translator

Amazing. Try a range of English words in the box here and it'll show you translations from around Europe. A vivid way of seeing which language group a word comes from -- if you see it to the east, it's Germanic; to the south, it's Latin or French. 

http://ukdataexplorer.com/european-translator/?word=dwell

Article: On Internet Slang, IMHO

Interesting article on the grammar and usage of Internet 'slang'. 

On Internet Slang, IMHO
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/fashion/on-internet-slang-imho.html

Trolling, historically

Did you know that the etymology of 'trolling' was 'fishing'? This 17th century guide explains how to do it.

http://www.dailydot.com/lol/guide-to-trolling-1682/

Swales’ Three-Move Model for Introductions

For A2s working on the introduction to their research projects, this model is a sound general guide to the sorts of things you should cover.

http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~jbl00001/swales_cars_introductions_model.htm

'Grammar nazis' and Language Change

Great little article on prescriptivism, language change and variation today. As so often, a headline with a question that can clearly be answered 'no', but a good read nonetheless.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10692897/Are-grammar-Nazis-ruining-the-English-language.html

xkcd: File Extensions

Note that .html isn't on there. I suppose it'd be near .jpg. Also: the image itself is a .png.... xkcd: File Extensions

Texting has changed the meaning of the full stop.

This does seem to be true...

http://mashable.com/2013/11/25/texting-transformed-period/

Wordflex Touch Dictionary

This is the semantic network dictionary I showed on screen when we were doing word networks. Download it - it's pretty cool!

Wordflex Touch Dictionary - English visual dictionary and thesaurus created exclusively for iPad in association with Oxford University Press

10 Techniques for More Precise Writing

'Concise' is the better word for the headline. 10 useful techniques for cutting your word count -- this will come in handy when editing your research project.

10 Techniques for More Precise Writing
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-techniques-for-more-precise-writing/

A Brief History of the Hashtag, and Other Unusual Punctuation Marks

Doesn't include all the interesting ones, for example the virgule (/), but an interesting collection illustrating transformations in form and naming.