[lg policy] Twas the Night before Christmas (linguists' version) with a charity appeal!

[Dave Sayers]

Now that it's officially Christmas (ahem), I can post a message I've been planning 
for a while. First, the opening two stanzas of the poem I circulated last year, to 
whet your appetite / refresh your memory...

Twas the night before Christmas in the ivory tower,
Not a creature was stirring at the midnight hour,
Twas a problem for linguists who live to hear sounds,
Consonants, vowels (open or round).

We linguists were nestled all snug in our beds,
While visions of fricatives danced in our heads.
Snug in our gowns and our four-cornered caps,
We pondered enigmas like bilabial taps...

The poem continues if you follow the link below, updated this year with an appeal for 
donations to the charity that made the poem possible. In short, the poem came about 
after a family crisis, snatched from the jaws of disaster by the quick work of 
Sheffield Children's Hospital. Read on for details of that happy ending, and my 
sincere appeal to all of you for donations to the hospital's associated charity - or 
to a charity of your choice.

https://www.academia.edu/9856733/

Please pass on this message (or just the link) far and wide, by email, social media, 
printed on your office door, emblazoned on lecture slides, etc. If you'd like to 
share my Tweet of the poem & appeal, it's here:

https://twitter.com/DaveJSayers/status/671610871819423745

And thanks to the various list moderators who pre-approved this egregious 
tin-rattling message.

Seasonally yours,
Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University | www.shu.ac.uk
Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University & WISERD | www.wiserd.ac.uk
dave.sayers at cantab.net | http://shu.academia.edu/DaveSayers

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