Author Archives: nkrishna

About nkrishna

I own this site.

Robin Williams, suicide, and “getting it”

Posted on August 13, 2014 by nkrishna

Robin Williams, who starred in many formative movies of my childhood and released comedy that had my high-school friends and I in stitches, took his own life this week. He’d struggled with alcohol and drug addition, and severe depression, and … Continue reading →

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Book Review — The Horse, the Wheel, and Language

Posted on August 9, 2014 by nkrishna

Author: David W. Anthony Publisher: Princeton University Press My first love in linguistics is probably the historical variety.  But no one will pay me money to do that so I do all this computational stuff instead.  Still, historical linguistics and … Continue reading →

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On Linguistics and Public Outreach

Posted on March 24, 2014 by nkrishna

Earlier in the week A couple weeks ago, I posted three questions about science communication in the field of linguistics: Who is the Carl Sagan or Neil DeGrasse Tyson of linguistics? In other words, who do we have in linguistics … Continue reading →

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I Should Not Love the Olympics

Posted on February 24, 2014 by nkrishna

The controversial Sochi Olympics are over and this makes me very sad. After 2+ weeks of feverishly checking medal counts and goggling at interminable ski races and falls on hard ice and wondering if NHL teammates on opposing national squads … Continue reading →

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Statistics Aren’t Enough

Posted on January 17, 2014 by nkrishna

There’s a cute quip: statistics don’t lie. There’s an accurate quip: statistics don’t lie, given a well-trained model and a large enough sample. With statistics on your side, you can be 99% sure that you’re right. Unfortunately, people who are … Continue reading →

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A Big-Ass Chart of Indo-European Languages

Posted on December 1, 2013 by nkrishna

Other people make and eat massive amounts of food over the Thanksgiving weekend. I did that, too, but I also made a chart. A big-ass chart. There are many ways to chart a language family. You can do the traditional … Continue reading →

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Book Review — Holy Sh*t!: A Brief History of Swearing

Posted on November 3, 2013 by nkrishna

Author: Melissa Mohr Publisher: Oxford University Press Every once in a while you come across a book on a bookstore shelf that catches your eye simply because it’s got a dirty word right in the title. So it was with … Continue reading →

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Priorities

Posted on October 30, 2013 by nkrishna

Apparently we Gen-Yers care more about “a fulfilling career” than “a secure career”. Cal Newport points out that “follow your passion” is a catchphrase that has only gotten going in the last 20 years, according to Google’s Ngram viewer, a … Continue reading →

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Burgers, metal, and religious offense

Posted on October 4, 2013 by nkrishna

Really, really kicking myself for never visiting Kuma’s Corner when I was living in Chicago.

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Pisa Wrap-up

Posted on September 30, 2013 by nkrishna

I haven’t blogged in a while which is nothing new (not that anyone reads this), but this time I have a reason beyond my own laziness: my doctoral advisor invited me to a conference in Pisa, Italy, which is where … Continue reading →

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