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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him)

@matthuntgardner.bsky.social
202 followers 159 following 154 posts

Sociolinguist, nerd, cook 🏳️‍🌈 Lecturer QMUL, Visiting Scholar Oxford

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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Hot take: Deep fried Mars bars are better with whipped cream than with ice cream.
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Reposted by Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him)
Journal of Sociolinguistics @jslx.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
🚀 New Article! @luciafrai.bsky.social @celesterl.bsky.social @matthuntgardner.bsky.social, Glenys D Collard and James Walker examine social practices and (ING) variation in Aboriginal English. What are the meanings associated with different realisations of (ING)? Find out 🔗 buff.ly/uaG8VoH
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
So happy this article with the fabulous @luciafrai.bsky.social (and others) is now published: Freakin’ Swimming and Everythink: School Practices and Variable (ING) in an Australian Indigenous Boarding School doi.org/10.1111/josl...
doi.org
Freakin’ Swimming and Everythink: School Practices and Variable (ING) in an Australian Indigenous Boarding School
This original sociolinguistic ethnographic study examines social practices and (ING) variation in Aboriginal English, an indigenized variety of English spoken by First Nations people in Australia. Ba...
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
New article alert: doi.org/10.1111/lnc3... Looking at a classic variable with a new-ish tool. Part 2 coming soon. #linguistics #langsky #Maritimes
doi.org
A Guide to Build (ING) Generalised Linear Mixed Model Trees in Canadian Maritime English: Part 1, Social Factors
This two-part guide/research report introduces the Generalised Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) tree analysis technique to variationist sociolinguistics using (ING) variation in Canadian Maritime English (C...
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Reposted by Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him)
Linguistics @ QMUL @qmullinguistics.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Do you #softblock (blocking and then immediately unblocking) QMUL Linguist Caitlin Hogan @caitlinhogan.bsky.social explores how it represents emerging norms of politeness on social media. Check out Caitlin's new article in Social Media + Society. doi.org/10.1177/2056...
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Not gonna lie, twice I’ve missed my stop because I was too busy ranting online about them.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I commute on the London Underground and I’ve been seeing new ones like every day.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I refer you to earlier equally poor choices bsky.app/profile/matt...
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I mean it’s just all kinds of incorrect. Make is correct in PDE if 2PP, but then taketh is incorrect. But, let’s say it’s 2PS, then it should be Takest. If Taketh was intended (which is weird, but let’s give them TBOTD) make should be makes (3PS).
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
At this point I feel like someone should call Channel 4’s marketing department and give them a Middle English reader #channel4
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Ok, now it’s just too easy. Both “take” and “make” should have the same ending. Given context the subject should be thou, giving Takest not Taketh. If Taketh’s subject is an unstated he/she/it/one (which prompts -eth ending) then make should be maketh or makes. #linguistics
Subway sign that reads: Taketh the hellish path or make everyone pay.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
#linguistics Great example of how comedy almost solely relies on subverting the tropes of class/regional representations of English in stories using language variation. youtu.be/rQDeU6dHX-c
youtu.be
Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Working Class Playwright"
YouTube video by karatelunchbox
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Reposted by Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him)
Ted Underwood @tedunderwood.com · 08/03/2025
It's been delayed a little, but here — at last — is the CFP for Schmidt Sciences' Humanities and AI Virtual Institute, to support research "at the intersection of AI and the humanities." Expressions of interest are due April 4th. Pls RT! www.schmidtsciences.org/humanities-a...
schmidtsciences.org
Humanities and AI Virtual Institute - Schmidt Sciences
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
*prescriptivists wanted shall
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Though, it's not Channel 4ths fault. Apparently no one ever really followed the rules (though mostly it was using will where prescriptivists wanted will) not the cheeky shall here. From Fowler (1926: 525) section "shall & will". Such shade.
Snippet that reads: The distinctions are elaborate: they are fully set forth in the OED; & no formal grammar of dictionary can be held to have done its duty if it has not laid down the necessary rules. It will therefore be assumed here that the reader is aware of the normal usage so far as abstract statement can bring it home to him: & the object will be to make the dry bones live by exhibiting groups of sentences, all from newspapers of the better sort, in which on or other principle of idiom has been outraged. The 'Scotch, Irish, provincial, or extra-British' writer will thus have before him a conspectus of the pitfalls that are most to be feared."
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Another bad borrowed prestige using grammatical forms. #linguistics Trad. grammars state (basically) "shall" for positive polarity, "will" for negative for 1PSig, and the reverse for other subjects. Thus "Though shalt not pass" is okay but "Thy XX shall awaken..." is technically an error.
Subway sign reading "Thy matcha mod mash shall awaken their wrath"
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I agree. In fact, I think it would actually probably make more sense as third person, either single or plural, "Blessed be he/she/they that/who resist(s) the call home".
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
You are absolutely right! I should have clocked that too.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Should deconstructing this be an exercise in my History of the English Language: 1500-1800 tutorials. All signs point to Aye!
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I actually find this interesting because it’s using borrowed prestige associated with grammatical choices from two different periods in the history of English.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Also, contextually shouldn’t it be “Blessed be they who/that resist the call home”???
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
The use of “thou” was pretty much dead (outside Bible quotes) by the end of the 17th century. The use of “who” to introduce a restricted relative clause didn’t take off until the 19th century. Just saying. #linguistics
Subway add saying “Blessed be thou who resisteth The Call Home”
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
I don’t think it’s wrong per se, I just think it’s spreading.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
This is true, one American, one British, but there are also corpora of spoken English that have none or nearly none so I wouldn’t read much into it.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Here's a link to the data. Not the actual tokens but the counts and relative percentages www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pskyh...
dropbox.com
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Of note, "by purpose" was a common kiddie expression when I was growing up. So the "by accident" -- "on purpose" prescription was drilled in to us. Perhaps that's why my sociolinguistic sensor piques when I hear "on accident".
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
#linguistics I have been hearing so much more "on accident" lately that I decided to check its presence across a bunch of English corpora. The variation between "on accident", "by accident", and "accidentally" is robust, but "on accident" is a relatively minor player (0%-10.7%).
Dotchart showing the relative frequency of "on accident", "by accident", and "accidentally" across corpora of English
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
#linguistics Come on humans, be better. www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Call centres using AI to ‘whiten’ Indian accents
World’s biggest operator claims technology improves empathy and communication with callers
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Walked by an Intro to #Pragmatics course assignment today. #linguistics #langsky
Two signs reading “We wish to apologize for any inconvenience cards during these works” and “No pedestrians or cyclists”
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Does anyone else feel some kind of conspiracy is brewing based on the unreasonably frequent appearance of “oboe” as a @nytimes.com crossword answer? I mean, somebody is communicating something to someone.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
Best linguistic landscape find from Inverness County, Nova Scotia #acadie #linguistics #translanguaging
Taxi cab with a sign on the side reading L’Acabie
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Reposted by Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him)
Benoît Leclercq @benoitleclercq.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Only stumbled upon it for the first time today, but this one is now quite high in my list of favorite quotes! 😃 (Fillmore. 1992. "Corpus linguistics" or "Computer-aided armchair linguistics". pp. 58-59)
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
#TFL has new names for the various Overground lines in London. The only one I can’t get behind is MildMay for purely prosodic reasons. Diphthong-Liquid-Voiced Stop-Nasal-Diphthong just doesn’t roll off that tongue easily. #linguistics #soheavy
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
While watching #SmoggieQueens on BBC this week I saw this.
Man with white hair pumping his fist and saying “and I’m crackers about carpets, me!”
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
At a dinner party tonight with all Brits the consensus was it means “crazy” but it sounds very oldy timey
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
*National Express.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
As a Canadian the American meaning came to mind first. Felt like Eddie Murphy complaining about train schedule makers.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Perhaps. I also just found the following, which suggests National Rail is at least up on 1950s boy slang www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/l...
cliffsnotes.com
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Also this may be pertinent factsandfigment.com/cheese-and-c...
factsandfigment.com
“Cheese and Crackers!” The Wonderfully Whimsical Words of Bluey’s World
A trip through Bluey’s world wouldn’t be complete without a primer on some of the show’s most memorable expressions and terms. Here are a few of the best.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
For sure. But took me aback seeing it.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Christmas crackers are a UK tradition and I guess it also is something someone says of something bonker or awesome. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christm...
en.m.wikipedia.org
Christmas cracker - Wikipedia
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
#linguistics #langsky
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Perhaps more diversity at National Express would have caught the unintended meaning here. Not sure if the missing exclamation point after “Crackers” would have helped either. 🤔
National Express sign reading:
We run on Christmas Day. 
The trains don’t. 
Crackers.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
I beg to differ, NYT! #linguistics #langsky Ok, it’s an adjective based on the proper name of mountains but still.
New York Times Spelling Bee game claiming that the word Altaic is not in the dictionary
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Forgot to add #linguistics
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Talk about ambiguous antecedents!!!!! I had to read the article to parse this headline, which may have been the whole point of it. people.com/oliver-hudso...
Headline reading: Oliver Hudson recalls moment Kurt Russel asked if he and Kate wanted him to adopt them — and why they said no
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Brynn Quick @brynnquick.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
“Making Sense of Bad English” is such a fab resource for learning about and teaching language ideologies. I loved chatting with @lissu.bsky.social about what the Standard Language Ideology has to do with Santa Clause and why English spelling is so chaotic! www.languageonthemove.com/making-sense...
languageonthemove.com
Making Sense of “Bad English”
In this episode of the Language on the Move Podcast, Brynn Quick speaks with Dr Elizabeth Peterson about language ideologies and what we think when we hear different varieties of English. This epis…
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Reposted by Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him)
Dr AbsP @absp.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
K this wins today! And maybe the whole week. 🐦🐦
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Evidence for the structural cohesiveness of phrasal verbs? Also prosody in the wild. #linguistics #langsky
Subway add for Panadol that’s reads: Standing Up. The. Whole. Journey.
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Matt Hunt Gardner (he/him) @matthuntgardner.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
I think my Canadian Shift is showing. #linguistics #langsky
Starbucks cup with “Maat” instead of “Matt” written on it.
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