Anne Curzan
Stories by this Author
-
Lingua Franca
The Unexpected Lessons of Lingua Franca
Anne Curzan reflects on what she has learned from blogging about language and teaching. -
Lingua Franca
‘That Walk Was a Bear!’ Is ‘Bear’ Slang in That Sentence?
Anne Curzan finds herself trying to define slang after one student misunderstands another’s remark on a snowy day. -
Lingua Franca
A Little Music Before We Begin
Anne Curzan describes a new twist to her teaching this semester, which is allowing her to play DJ. -
Lingua Franca
Why I Chose ‘Judgy’ Over ‘Judgmental’
Anne Curzan celebrates the lexical creativity of slang. -
Lingua Franca
How Are We Supposed to Have Fun?
Anne Curzan responds to a reader’s quibble with her choice of fun as an adjective. -
Lingua Franca
When My Class Discussed ‘Mischievious’
After reading her blog post about her nonstandard pronunciation of “mischievous,” Anne Curzan’s students tackle the topic of what is and what isn’t “standard” English. -
Lingua Franca
Mischievous Pronunciations
How do you say the adjective form of mischief? Anne Curzan reflects on her own decision to “correct” the nonstandard pronunciation, which she is not entirely convinced is nonstandard. -
Lingua Franca
Turning the Fashionable ‘Bespoke’ on Its Head
Anne Curzan is intrigued by the possibility that another word may have come to mean its opposite. -
Lingua Franca
How ‘Taser’ Became a Verb
After two headlines in the news, Anne Curzan contemplates whether we should be debating tasing versus tasering, or more important issues. -
Lingua Franca
What Rives?
Anne Curzan finds herself curious about a healthy past participle whose verb may be gasping its last breaths.