Syntactico-
Yes, linguistics and its myriad of subdisciplines are our familiar friends: we know them, we love them, we study them, we teach them. But what do we know of linguists, the flesh-
With this in mind, SpecGram has recently undertaken to research the comings and goings of well-
Mark C. Baker Noam-
Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn was the original family man.
William Caxton simply hates photocopying.
When R.M.W. Dixon’s pet hamster died, he knew exactly what subfamily of Rodentia he’d replace it with.
Jean Berko Gleason contributed to first language acquisition a highly significant idea in the 1950s. She then went on to contribute yet more significant first language acquisition ______.
Zellig Harris’s doctoral supervision of Noam was transformational.
Stephen D. Krashen likes reading.
That shifty William Labov been researched variation in rhoticity.
Stephen C. Levinson and Penelope Brown are extremely polite to each other.
Rochelle Lieber’s favourite drink is a pot of coffee.
Pāṇini, the 4th century BCE ancient Sanskrit grammarian, not only undertook ground-
Paul Passy thought doing headstands might help with his mirror-
W.V.O. Quine once ran out of cigarettes as he gave a guy his last one.
John Ross likes vacationing on archipelagos (but never wants to leave).
When the young Bertrand Russell was taken for his first haircut by mater (aka Viscountess Amberley), the barber suggested that he should shave himself but then proceeded to give him a haircut anyway.
Lucien Tesnière found it very hard to say goodbye to his mother’s mother.
When J.R.R. Tolkien served as an officer in the First World War, he commanded a platoon of conscripts.
Benjamin Lee Whorf misunderstood when the Hopi told him that he was welcome to come back anytime. When he finally did return, they were lost for words.