This week, I've had a few discussions with colleagues about critical language awareness and language activism. If you're not sure what exactly it is, or whether you agree with it, have a listen to the latest @wordsandactions.bsky.social episode: wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/e...

Episode 33 SPECIAL: Linguistic activism

Ever looked at the wallpaper and suddenly thought: hang on, who chose THAT? Language can be a bit like wallpaper: it surrounds us so completely that we stop noticing it. In episode 33, we get out t…

wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com

There's nothing like a shock to the system to get over the post-lunch slump. I didn't know how to read the teaching allocation model at my new place and thought I had to do 24 hours a week next semester. It is actually seven hours. Many thanks to the administrators for explanations and chocoloate.

New publication from the @mantrap.bsky.social team ( @alexiconartist.bsky.social , @veronikakoller.bsky.social , @markmcglashan.com) in Journal of Gender Studies. We focus on the metaphor of "the wall" and how it is used and adapted in different parts of the manosphere. Available open access here:

What is the Wall? Negotiating boundaries of women’s desirability in and around the manosphere

In this paper, we explore how the metaphoric concept of The Wall is constructed in both the Reddit manosphere as a whole and in r/PurplePillDebate, a Reddit community purporting to facilitate open ...

tandfonline.com

October starts with a new publication: "What is the Wall? Negotiating boundaries of women’s desirability in and around the manosphere" looks at how ageism and sexism intertwine. As the senior author in more ways than one, I'm happy to see this published. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

What is the Wall? Negotiating boundaries of women’s desirability in and around the manosphere

In this paper, we explore how the metaphoric concept of The Wall is constructed in both the Reddit manosphere as a whole and in r/PurplePillDebate, a Reddit community purporting to facilitate open ...

tandfonline.com

Okay, it's been a long and tiring week, but why is this a metaphor? A metaphtonymy, maybe? Post van for Royal Mail metonymy + breakdown metaphor?

Matt Owen@mjowen174.bsky.social · last wk.

Just witnessed a physical metaphor in the shape of a post van on a breakdown truck.

What do you associate with #activism? In the Corpus of Contemporary American, the word shows up next to 'grass-roots', 'organize', 'political', 'feminist'. But what is linguistic activism? Find out in this @wordsandactions.bsky.social episode: wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/e...

Episode 33 SPECIAL: Linguistic activism

Ever looked at the wallpaper and suddenly thought: hang on, who chose THAT? Language can be a bit like wallpaper: it surrounds us so completely that we stop noticing it. In episode 33, we get out t…

wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com

Lovely Tuesday morning news - new paper accepted in Journal of Gender Studies with @alexiconartist.bsky.social, @veronikakoller.bsky.social & @markmcglashan.com about how the metaphor of "the wall" is used and contested in and around the manosphere. Watch this space!

The latest episode of @wordsandactions.bsky.social is out and it's all about language #activism. wordsandactionspodcast.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/e... We revisit Covid metaphors, watch misleading headlines get rewritten, and hear what it’s like to live between academia and activism.

Here we go: first official day in the new job at @sdu.dk, with a welcome on my office door

Teenagers are tiresome but fascinating: according to my 15yo son, the most boring thing is talking to adults and the least boring thing is chatting online with his friends. Both are about communication but it is crucial with whom and how.

I'm really happy that there is now a job opening for a Lecturer in Discourse Studies at @lancslinguistics.bsky.social. Closing date 4 September, interviews 21 September. This is a great opportunity for an early-career researcher, so get your application ready! hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Job Opportunity at Lancaster University: Lecturer in Discourse Studies

Linguistics and English Language, School of Social Sciences, Lancaster University (Full-time, indefinite post) Linguistics and English Language within the School of Social Sciences at Lancaster Univer...

hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk

Found on FB and worth sharing here

@politico.eu did a nice, bite-sized write-up of an overview article I wrote on the language of #Brexit. It's behind a paywall (sorry) but you can DM me for the text. www.politico.eu/pro/newslett...

We replaced chapters, updated everything and added web materials - the 2nd ed. of Language in Business, Language at Work will be out by December and is ready for pre-orders and inspection copies now: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/language-...

Language in Business, Language at Work

Packed with contemporary examples from the business world, this engaging and comprehensive book explains how language works in business, how to analyse it and h…

bloomsbury.com

I've been to many, many Pride events - including today -, in different countries, in small towns and large cities, to first-ever parades and anniversary celebrations. All were full of colour and joy, pride (obvs) and defiance. That some people bring violence to them is horrendous #csdberlin 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Mir tun bei solchen Spielen ja immer die Kommentatoren leid, denen zu dem Mist was einfallen muss #esparg

As associate editor, I come across all sorts of research. Does the world need a study on cognitive mechanisms of word formation in medieval Turkic languages? Maybe not, but I wouldn't want to live in a world where there was no space for such work.

Die Argentinier spielen sehr, sehr unschön: nichts als Fouls, Verzögerungen und Schwalben 😡 #ENGARG

#cadaad2026 was intense and inspiring - huge thanks to @laurafilardollamas.bsky.social and team, I hope you can rest now. Can we have the next one in the North though - Umeå, Tromsø, Reykjavik, Jyväskylä? Come on, Nordics!

We had to wait until the last day for our panel on ways to analyse emotions among supporters and opponents on populist social media - but it was well worth the wait! Great audience (thanks for valuable input!) and great conference in beautiful (but hot) Valladolid. #cadaad2026

Laura Filardo-Llamas@laurafilardollamas.bsky.social · 3mo ago

@annilina.bsky.social discussing the need for an interactional perspective and how position and stance could function as theoretical apparatus for doing it. #cadaad2026

There are so many good talks on #affect at #cadaad2026 that I feel (sic) I need to completely revise tomorrow's (9.30am) panel on analysing emotion in political discourse online. The latest was @miglmarl.bsky.social & @laurafilardollamas.bsky.social's study on affective polarisation on X & Reddit

@susannekopf.bsky.social in full flow, talking about four approaches to social media at #cadaad2026

After some comments by journalists that (imho) didn't reveal much that was new or interesting, here we go with a very promising panel on Day 2 of #cadaad2026

A high-profile queer moment at #cadaad2026: @nounfraze.bsky.social (introduced by Alba Roldan Garcia) presenting his/their work for @amnestyuk.bsky.social on how trans people were represented in the British press 2020-25

The third of the Glorious 3 (my students at #cadaad2026): @tianxin.bsky.social on discourses of voluntary childlessness on Chinese social media. My work here is done 😊

Good to see mtaphtonymy in political cartoons being analysed by Giribaldi & Narisano - it is often overlooked or subsumed under either metaphor or metonymy #cadaad2026

Here are @huichen0826.bsky.social and Budi Pranoto talking about their corpus-asdisted discourse studies of #sustainability reporting in different countries and industries - they did @lancslinguistics.bsky.social proud! #cadaad2026

Two interesting papers on emotions, and lack of empathy, in Israeli soldiers' videos and Israeli voices on X, by S.N.M.Jamil and @elifriedman.bsky.social et al., resp. #cadaad2026

Like all the best research, Pilar G. Blitvich's plenary at #cadaad2026, on cancelling and forgiveness online, is relevant beyond her case study. It is relevant to #crisis communication, f.ex.

Hashtag of the week is #cadaad2026, for the critical discourse studies conference in Valladolid, Spain. I am so looking forward to being there 😊 @cadaad2026.bsky.social