Get short, timely messages from Editors of SpecGram.

Twitter is a rich source of instantly updated information. It's easy to stay updated on an incredibly wide variety of topics. Join today and follow @SpecGram.

Get updates via SMS by texting follow SpecGram to 40404 in the United States
Codes for other countries

Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:
Country Code For customers of
Australia
  • 0198089488 Telstra
Canada
  • 21212 (any)
United Kingdom
  • 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
Indonesia
  • 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel
Ireland
  • 51210 O2
India
  • 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon
Jordan
  • 90903 Zain
New Zealand
  • 8987 Vodafone, Telecom NZ
United States
  • 40404 (any)

SpecGram

  1. Student Pearls—On Jabberwocky: ‘Outgrabe’ is an adjective which has no root noun. But it probably has two morphemes. #fb
  2. Monthly Reminder: Student Pearls=Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know (because they aren’t actually true)—students’ pearls of wisdom. #fb
  3. IANMTU: Fear of the number 13 is ‘triskaidekaphobia’; fear of Friday the 13th is ‘paraskevidekatriaphobia’ or ‘friggatriskaidekaphobia’. #fb
  4. Monthly Reminder: IANMTU stands for “I am not making this up.” #fb
  5. Today’s Punishment: Raising frogs for profit / Is really a bit of a joke. / How can you make any money / When so many of them croak? #fb
  6. Collected Wisdom of Linguists: A chain shift is only as strong as its weakest phoneme. #fb
  7. Fractured French: Un deux trois quatre cinq: one of three cats drowned #fb
  8. Polyglot Insults: Tulle; Swedish: “Mud jouster”
  9. @pyry One more than all of them.
  10. Global English: Chinese host: Up your bottoms. American guest: Up yours, too. #fb
  11. Student Pearls—For [eɪ] the body of the diphthong is raised. #fb
  12. IANMTU: The Damin register of Lardil featured pulmonic ingressive and velaric and glottal egressive phonation. Damin is now extinct. #fb
  13. Collected Wisdom of Linguists: An informant and his language are easily parted. #fb
  14. @AbramsCarolyn Yep! They are stupidly compelling and compellingly stupid.
  15. Garden Path Humor: What’s brown and sticky? A stick #fb
  16. Student Pearls—[s] is voiceless and [z] is voiced. They are minimal pairs. #fb
  17. Fractured French: Ma parole: mom’s getting out of jail early #fb
  18. Student Pearls—[t] is [+stop] and [+coronary]. The tip of the tongue comes into control with the alveolar ridge. #fb
  19. Difficult Word of the Week: ichnite—a fossil footprint (not a German commanding something be set aflame)