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Rachel Burdin

@rsburdin.bsky.social
2.1K followers 793 following 552 posts

Ling prof in NH; intonation, lg. variation, lg. and identity, Jewish languages. Occasional runner, knitter, garment maker. she/her.

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Reposted by Rachel Burdin
Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · 05/10/2026
[car dealership waiting room] Me: [chanting] knobs, knobs- Other car buyers: knobs, KNOBS Car salesman: [pounding desk] KNOBS, KNOBS, KNOBS!
forbes.com
Knobs Returning To Some Automakers’ Vehicles, To The Relief Of Many
Auto companies are listening to the complaints of consumers, who want their knobs and buttons back.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Getting ready for Phonetics tomorrow by finally making a lung model! Instructions here: www.uhi.ac.uk/en/t4-media/...
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Will Bennett @wmgbennett.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Little known Snapple fact: Cajuns are not originally from Louisiana, and the clue is in the name. Cajun is a shortening of ‘Akkadian’, which reflects the group’s history of being forcibly resettled from Mesopotamia by the French after the fall of Sumeria. #cuneiformdelafayette
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is especially funny after watching some AI bros fight with a sociologist on here because she pointed out that people have their own ways of doing things like grocery shopping and meal planning and AI agents/task-ification wouldn't cleanly fit into their lives as a "solution" for them
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Reposted by Rachel Burdin
American Dialect Society @americandialect.org · 30/09/2026
Submit your nominations for 2026 word-of-the-year: bit.ly/WOTYNOMS2026 You can make as many nominations as you want between now and New Year’s Eve. Winners will be picked live at our annual meeting in January. Will your pick be the next slop, rawdog, or enshittification? Only time will tell!
Title at top of image: Submit your picks for 2026 word of the year!
Underneath title: Scannable QR code
Underneath QR code in blue oval: American Dialect Society.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I am very pleased to report someone made a picture book about the Ever Given.
A picture from a children's book, showing a very sad looking Ever Given, run aground in the Suez Canal, with two diggers trying to dig it out, and a dredger boat laughing at it.

"Still suck," sighed the cargo ship.

"Say," asked the dredger, "have you ever considered becoming a bridge? Bridges don't float."
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The Nor'Easter stayed just south of us for most of the day so we went apple picking, where we had to fend off a very good dog looking for some apple cider donuts
A sign, with a picture of a very good dog in front of an apple tree. The text says, If you see Farm Dog Mutsu, he's had plenty of donuts already!Mutsu the Farm Dog attempting to get a donut
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Update: the various New England WhatsApp and Facebook groups are sharing tips, some courtesy of Rabbis from Florida with experience with hurricanes, on securing sukkot from 50 mph winds
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Dread Pirate Sex Badger @badgercult.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
THE Ohio Snake University
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Absolutely gorgeous and clear example of a NORTH/FORCE distinction here that will make it into my regular slide deck rotation on Eastern New England English #linguistics
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
It's 58 degrees, the trees are starting to turn, Sukkot starts Friday, let's go
mcsweeneys.net
It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers
For the seventeenth year: Welcome to autumn, fuckheads.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I went to a Girl Scout camp on an island in a lake in upstate New York. There was a Young Life camp on the shore by us that (1) woke us up early in the morning by driving their parasailing boats around the lake and (2) sent kids out in sailboats they couldn't handle so we'd have to rescue them
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Rabbi Emily Cohen @thatrabbicohen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
(I know Beit Shammai says it's best to just drink normally until day of, take the 1 day awful headache over the week long mild headache, and break your fast with coffee, but I go with Beit Hillel on this one)
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Rabbi Emily Cohen @thatrabbicohen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Coffee-drinking Jews: This is your annual PSA that if you plan to fast on Yom Kippur (note that you should absolutely *not* fast unless it's mentally & physically safe for you), you should start tapering your caffeine now. Your Yom Kippur self will thank you.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Reposting with alt text, because it's glorious
Carol Burnett, in the parody sketch "Went With the Wind!". She is wearing green curtains, with the curtain rod straight across her shoulders like the world's most extreme shoulder pads, a gold curtain tie around her waist, gold fringes going down the center, and the back of the curtain going down her back like a cape. She has a giant gold and green tassel on her head. You can see a giant pink hoop skirt peaking out underneath. Harvey Korman, as Ratt Butler, looks like he's barely holding it together.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Today in Jewish Life in NH, a president's message with an extended oyster farming metaphor ("Just don't eat them!") and a rabbi's sermon about choosing his vanity license plate. Shana tova, all!
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Terence Tao @teorth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A group of 25 Fields Medalists, including myself, have made a joint declaration on Math and AI: mathandai.org . We welcome additional signatories. See also this article in the Economist announcing the declaration: www.economist.com/science-and-...
mathandai.org
Declaration — Math and AI
Read the declaration and add your name.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Nottingham is less than 20 miles away from the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant and they just ran a data center out of town so, this tracks.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Update I am now being treated to a saxophone sectional during my daughter's piano lesson
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Was feeling grumpy about the semester starting next week but then the campus rain gardens were in bloom and the drumline was practicing outside and the new coffee cart was getting set up so
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Reposted by Rachel Burdin
Jaya Saxena @jayasaxena.com · 26/08/2026
The best way to honor the two who have left us recently, imo, is to keep being as gay as possible
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I got into romance *because* I'm a professor. Stuff that follows a formula and happy endings are a nice change from what I normally read which is usually a mix of "highly technical" and "here's how inequalities are reproduced linguistically"
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Market Basket donuts are an essential bribe to get the kids to come along and get out of the non-grocery shopping spouse's hair. Thank you for everyone's patience as they try to figure out which one they want.
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Allison Shapp, PhD @schwadevivre.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Another instance of Cot/Caught Merger trouble in the @nytimes.com crossword puzzle today! I've been seeing a lot of bewildered forum comments asking why this is the answer. #linguistics #NYTCrossword [SPOILER BELOW for just the one clue] . . . . . . . .
Screenshot of the bottom 3 rows of a crossword puzzle, with all the boxes whited out except for 55 Down: LON.  The clue reads "Apt name for a groundskeeper?"
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The Gurgling Cod (he/him) @thegurglingcod.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
A reminder that this useful tool for figuring class meeting days for your syllabi exists: wcaleb.rice.edu/syllabusmake...
wcaleb.rice.edu
Generic Syllabus Maker
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The Search and Rescue teams around here do a good job of putting out "hiker got hurt and called us but were able to self-rescue/didn't put us in harms' way because they had appropriate equipment and training" press releases to balance out the "this asshole attempted Mt Washington in flip-flops" ones
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Joey Stanley @joeystanley.com · 27/07/2026
📣‼️🔔Introducing VoxHumana: a "spiritual successor" to DARLA. 🎉 🗣💬 Upload an audio file to VxH and it'll transcribe it with Whisper, do forced alignment with MFA, and extract formants with new-fave. It's not live yet, but I hope to get it up and running soon. joeystanley.com/blog/voxhuma...
joeystanley.com
A teaser for VoxHumana – Joey Stanley
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Aubrey Gilleran @aubreygilleran.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Also where are my manners?
youtube.com
Tom Holland's "Umbrella" | Lip Sync Battle
YouTube video by Comedy Central Asia
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
My man looks like a proud graduate of Duke University
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
ICE killed a person they weren't even looking for AGAIN. Second time in the past week.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
NYC *does* have non-Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant communities. The NYPL has some information here; Bukharian Jews are one prominent example. But note also that, e.g., the US Census data would not render them legible in a database, since these groups' origins span multiple countries
libguides.nypl.org
Research Guides: Jewish NYC: Communities
This research guide highlights Jewish history in New York through the rich collection of The New York Public Library.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Continued confirmation of the older child's LOT/THOUGHT merger #linguistics
Panel of Calvin and Hobbes with the real text removed. Calvin is talking to his dad. 

In a child's handwriting in a speech balloon: Dad I cot a tiger what do I do with it.
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Reposted by Rachel Burdin
Chris Brody @chrisbrody.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
My colleagues in the doomed effort to save the U of L’s Early Learning Campus, which closes permanently today, have summed up this incredibly shameful episode in a long op-ed
earlylearningcampusfamilies.substack.com
University of Louisville effectively cut Early Learning Campus family pay by an average of 5.5% - what's next?
With an administration making severe cuts across campus, the idea of shared governance seems to be getting the ax as well.
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Andy Famiglietti @afamiglietti.org · 27/06/2026
If your college degree trains you for a specific job and that job goes in the toilet, you are FUCKED If your college degree trains you to be a broadly capable person, you have options!
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Abby Chava Stein @abbystein.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
‏As someone who grew up in NYC speaking "a language other than English" as my primary language, and lacking English proficiency, let me say: גיי שטופ דיר (אין גיהנום אויב דו ווילסט), און זאלן נאר בייזע גזירות דיר אקעגן קומען. קיינע אנטשולדיגונגען.
Tweet from StephenM:

In 2026, half of NYC residents speak a language other than English as their primary language and one-quarter of NYC residents lack English language proficiency.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Hunt & Acton 2022. "How's the wife? Pragmatic reasoning in spousal reference" 10.1016/j.pragma.2021.11.005
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WEATHER IS HAPPENING @weatherishappening.com · 20/06/2026
/ BOSTON SUNSET 2DAY: 8:24 PM / BOSTON SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6/24: 8:25 PM / BOSTON SUNSET TUESDAY 6/30: 8:24 PM
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B-Side @benmsmith.com · 17/06/2026
delighted to see that the tartan army extends all the way down to Providence, where they rented basically every school bus in Rhode Island instead of paying the ridiculous commuter rail prices: www.tiktok.com/@gbhnews/vid...
tiktok.com
More than a thousand supporters of Scotland’s national soccer team packed into a fleet of dozens of school buses for a 45-minute trip from Providence, Rhode Island to Gillette Stadium to watch their s...
TikTok video by gbhnews
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Jen Nycz @jennycz.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The LSA First Gen Access & Equity (FGAE) Committee is awarding $500 for travel assistance to a first-generation student in #linguistics to attend the 2027 LSA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Learn more and apply at this link by July 31st! docs.google.com/forms/d/1Qza...
Flyer with the following text: First Gen Access and Equity Travel Assistance $500  Submissions open until July 31. The LSA First Gen Access and Equity (FGAE) Committee is awarding
$500 for travel assistance to a first-generation student in linguistics
to attend the 2027 LSA Annual Meeting in San Francisco. This annual award is intended to increase the participation of first-gen students in the LSA and FGAE committee.
The recipient will have the opportunity to explore linguistics topics or pursue their own areas of interest further by
connecting with peers and scholars at the Annual Meeting. Eligibility: Applicants must:
◦ Be a first-generation graduate or undergraduate student.
◦ Be a first-time attendee at LSA 2027.
◦ LSA member at time of receipt of award.
Applicants do not need to be US citizens to apply. Applicants do not
need to have an accepted abstract to the Annual Meeting.
Apply by July 31:
Scan the QR code to submit your personal statement and resume/CV.
The instagram handle for the committee is las_firstgen.
A QR code for the application form is also included
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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
"AI is operating at a PhD level" oh, so it's replying 'sorry for the late response' to every email and complaining about its labor conditions?
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Oh, no reason.
The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting 'Heil, Spode!' and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer.
What the Voice of the People is saying is: 'Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?
P. G. Wodehouse
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The Lexorcist @lexidarlingxoxo.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
when your name is Vic and your homie from New Zealand agrees with you
YISSVIC electric mosquito swatter
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
I guess getting my Christian in-laws' denomination makes a certain amount of sense
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Your taste lives in the largest American Lutheran body: mainline, generally affirming, sacramental, with a Garrison Keillor center of gravity in the Upper Midwest and a serious theological tradition (Bonhoeffer, Forde, Lindbeck) under the casseroles. The cultural neighborhood is Scandinavian and German‐heritage America at its most thoughtful: Christmas Eve candlelight, choirs that are actually good, a quiet politics that leans progressive without performing it.
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Stentor Danielson @chefstentor.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Congratulations to our new union comrades at Penn State! Especially glad to hear the union covers temporary and part time faculty as well, to head off attempts to pit adjunct and TT against each other. www.centredaily.com/news/local/e...
centredaily.com
Penn State faculty vote to unionize in one of PA’s largest public sector union elections
“This is an historic union election and the largest union election in Pennsylvania’s public sector in nearly five decades.”
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Quantian @quantian.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
US universities genuinely are like “welcome to Tennessee Agricultural College in Bumfuck Nowheresville. We invented the modern potato and our facilities include a particle accelerator, nuclear reactor, and TOP500 supercomputer. Tuition is $12,000 for instate students and we have 40,000 of them”
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Ed Burmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Hacking canvas? What do they think this is, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in 1990.
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
#linguistics and keeping this to talk about voiceless stop allophones
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Rachel Burdin @rsburdin.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Had to check and no, this is not the same rep who made the "final solution" joke
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