Still not posting much, so here are three links.
1. TestYourVocab is a site where you can get an informed estimate of the size of your English vocabulary. Average sizes for native speakers and non-native speakers are given at the end. Via Johnson.
2. Stan at Sentence First has an entry on Online IPA Keyboards, and the comments give more suggestions (this interests me because I sometimes want to discuss pronunciation).
3. The Obiter J blog, which I’ve recommended before for information on English law, has a summary of the differences in Norwegian law – a very different legal system. Among other links is one to a Guardian article on Norwegian prisons.
4. A nice post on Amy Winehouse on the LRB blog. You can’t hear the version of ‘Valerie’ linked to in Germany, but there are others on Youtube you can hear.
5. A new version of ApSIC X-Bench has appeared – see post by Lisa on Ü wie Übersetzen – XBench lets you search bilingual texts for vocabulary and is free of charge (I haven’t used it for a while so won’t say more than that it is very useful).
OK Margaret, what was your vocab score?
But Johnson says that bragging in the comments is a bit naff.
Amy Winehouse: “Her voice belonged in several decades at once.” I think that summed it up nicely.