convincing michiganders to get behind aes because his name is abdul THE sayed and it’ll piss off ohioans
Betsy Sneller
@betsysneller.bsky.social
Asst prof linguistics @ Michigan state. I like cats, fiber arts, people. I’ll finish the rest of this later.
This level of spending actually makes me deeply angry. Let's never do this again in a primary ok
#StupidSuez@diplomatofnight.com · 17h agoUnfathomable
Btw another way to say “El-Sayed sounds like a younger generation” is “El-Sayed is the voice of Michigan’s future” It’s true from a linguistic point of view and hopefully true from an “I’m a Michigan voter” point of view @abdulelsayed.bsky.social feel free to borrow that one if you want 😄
Betsy Sneller@betsysneller.bsky.social · 6d agoDoes she sound like Michiganders? Sure, she sounds like some Michiganders (nb: El-Sayed also sounds like a Michigander, just of a younger generation). Is she "the voice of Michigan", as her response ads say? That's up to voters.
I saw yesterday that some right-wing outlets were running stories about me, which I’m used to. But this time I’m going to say something about it, because these were framed to imply that I was aligned with their own transphobia. ⬇️
I like this notetaking example. it is a good case of how gender works. Notetaking has never been about producing a transcript. It is a bureaucratic skill in the 20th c. organixarion because it is SENSEMAKING. Those women socialized to take notes? They have been doing men’s metacognition for them
Jennifer Romig @jennifermromig.bsky.social · 4d agoNotetaking in meetings is tiny case in point - used to be some predictable social assumptions who would do it; now anyone can offer to do ”notetaking” by turning on the AI listener. Further interesting scenario is human recollection / notes (taken by habit by a person) conflict with AI summary
I love the odyssey because one time I also got lost on my way home
Btw another way to say “El-Sayed sounds like a younger generation” is “El-Sayed is the voice of Michigan’s future” It’s true from a linguistic point of view and hopefully true from an “I’m a Michigan voter” point of view @abdulelsayed.bsky.social feel free to borrow that one if you want 😄
Betsy Sneller@betsysneller.bsky.social · 6d agoDoes she sound like Michiganders? Sure, she sounds like some Michiganders (nb: El-Sayed also sounds like a Michigander, just of a younger generation). Is she "the voice of Michigan", as her response ads say? That's up to voters.
There are a lot of important things going on. Maybe this isn’t a top twenty concern. But, this is actually workplace harassment, the kind that can get people killed.
@carmenlynn.bsky.social · 5d agoThe Koch Nazis are back “A shadowy network of conservative activist groups, backed by Koch-linked dark money, is deploying hidden cameras and mass public-records requests to hunt down and destroy the careers of college professors and administrators — and it's working.”
Fun phonetics side quest: guess this 2-word phrase, just from the spectrogram 😜
Betsy Sneller@betsysneller.bsky.social · 6d agoSo let's take a 2 word phrase. The top here shows the waveform - this will be familiar to most of you. The bottom is the spectrogram - it's a Fourier transform of the waveform. It shows us where energy is concentrated - those dark bands ("formants") show us where the vowels are. (10/n)
This is a really great question, and I'm gonna go... pretty in depth to answer it so buckle up (if you wanna come along for the ride)! (1/n)
Not a Real Guy@phonyperson.bsky.social · 6d agoIs there a general Michigan accent that's reliably distinguishable from that of the broader great lakes?
This is Fenrir. He has not yet been successful in cuddling with the cat. But thinks if he goes slow enough she might not notice. 13/10 (IG: fenrirfanclub)
I don't have all the fancy degrees that RFK Jr. has (actually I do, since he just has a JD from UVA Law like me), but the reason liver is cheaper is because it is less desirable and comes "free" with every animal. If everyone ate liver (which is smaller) instead of beef, its cost would skyrocket.
FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 6d agoRFK Jr. suggests Americans can more easily afford groceries if they start eating liver instead of beef: "Most of the cheap cuts of meat are very inexpensive. ... You can buy liver"
Betsy Sneller@betsysneller.bsky.social · 6d agoHaley Stevens's accent has people talking. Is it really a Michigan accent? (spoiler: yes. It really is - tho see the note below) I had fun talking with the New York Times about one of my very specific niches of expertise (Michigan English). www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
"This," Dr. Sneller said, "is the stuff of dialectologists' joy." @betsysneller.bsky.social doing a fantastic job representing linguistics in NYT!
Betsy Sneller@betsysneller.bsky.social · 6d agoHaley Stevens's accent has people talking. Is it really a Michigan accent? (spoiler: yes. It really is - tho see the note below) I had fun talking with the New York Times about one of my very specific niches of expertise (Michigan English). www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
i'm not fan of her or her politics but people really need to get more used to hearing midwestern accents! "bad chris farley impression" yeah, he was from wisconsin! people really talk like that
Betsy Sneller@betsysneller.bsky.social · 6d agoHaley Stevens's accent has people talking. Is it really a Michigan accent? (spoiler: yes. It really is - tho see the note below) I had fun talking with the New York Times about one of my very specific niches of expertise (Michigan English). www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
Haley Stevens's accent has people talking. Is it really a Michigan accent? (spoiler: yes. It really is - tho see the note below) I had fun talking with the New York Times about one of my very specific niches of expertise (Michigan English). www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
How Haley Stevens’s Accent Became a Flashpoint in Michigan’s Senate Race (Gift Article)
How the politics of raised a’s and disappearing g’s briefly came to dominate the Michigan Senate race.
nytimes.com
The point of creating such weak cases isn’t to win. It’s to scare people into not protesting. It’s to scare us into silence.
Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · last wk."Davis, the government says, has attended and facilitated meetings about protests and discussed his anti-authoritarian ideology with other activists. He is not accused of violent acts, taking any specific actions at protests nor having any encounters with ICE agents. He is facing 6 years in prison."
Just a girl and her neurotransmitters and vitamins
People keep using the "can't put a genie back in the bottle" metaphor for "AI", even though in the stories they always get back in and current "AI" is more of a "we're spending trillions of dollars and the energy output of a continent trying to keep this bastard out of the bottle" situation
This might have been more recognizable if I had brought my colored pencils with me to work but 🤷🏼♀️ BEHOLD THE QUEEN
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.@sarahmackattack.bsky.social · last wk.Anise Hyssop, you are our queen today!!
Spent way too long on Identifont before just searching... www.fastcompany.com/91562875/may...
Mayor Mamdani has a new official font
A modified version of a typeface called Empirica is popping up around the city.
fastcompany.com
Is there a font nerd out here who can tell me about the font Mamdani is using to caption his videos (I think it’s the same as on his campaign posters?) It’s like… slightly nostalgic, evokes summer camp aka fun and good and sun. This guy is so good at his brand.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 2w agoIt’s flooding season, New York — but city government is prepared. This morning, we announced a $43.2 million expansion in the Bureau of Coastal Resiliency — a team of engineers, field inspectors, and city planners ready to protect our city from flooding.
I take two naps in the morning I take two naps at night I take two naps in the afternoon It makes me feel alright I take two naps in time of peace And two in time of war I take two naps before I take two naps And then I take two more
To do research is, among other things, to give value to ideas. To review is to critically assess the value of ideas. If you think this process can be done by a Chatbot, you probably shouldn’t be anywhere near it.
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 3w agoI did not submit anything to #EMNLP2026, which is probably part of why I missed this when it was first posted in May, but I want to say now that I am utterly appalled that @aclmeeting.bsky.social & @emnlpmeeting.bsky.social are engaging in this nonsense. 2026.emnlp.org/ai-reviewing... A thread 🧵>>
once again thinking about the best Lord of the Rings meme
