Category Archives: language
Marcus Coates’ Dawn Chorus
YouTube – from DAWN CHORUS by Marcus Coates I expect that this will be all over the place in the wake of Jarvis Cocker’s show from Port Eliot at the weekend. If it isn’t, it ought to be. Coates, with … more…
links for 2010-04-06: scrabble heresy, the behavioural sink
Escaping the Laboratory: the rodent experiments of John B. Calhoun & their cultural influence. – Free Online Library revisiting the behavioural sink (tags: social-studies rats John-Calhoun population density control) BBC News – Proper nouns come into play in Scrabble rule … more…
links for 2010-01-08: Two Gentlemen of Lebowski
Two Gentlemen of Lebowski The Big Lebowski retold in Shakespearean English, beautifully done. (tags: Shakespeare Lebowski humour film literature)
cloud fluffers
Up the feed (or down it, whatever) comes an item from the Register which announces Moab maker Cluster Resources welcomes cloud fluffers — and I’m like, “…cloud fluffers?” The press release – for such it turns out to be – … more…
Stanley Unwin’s Deepest Joys. Oh yes.
I’ve been picking up audio clips by Stanley Unwin (1911-2002), at long last — the stimulus being listening again to certain morsels used as interstitial material in a mix I picked up from Tom Raworth’s blog, many moons ago. I … more…
alternate repetitions in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining
I don’t remember why I was browsing on The Shining originally — possibly I was thinking of doing Jack up as a lolmaniac ….ah yes… — but amongst the trivia on an otherwise rather turgid write-up at House of Horrors, … more…
Essentialist Explanations, 13th edition
English is essentially a language in which up has forty-seven dictionary definitions, but antidisestablishmentarianism is considered a “hard word.” –John M. Ford Essentialist Explanations comprises a list of 901 “essentialist explanations” of the form “Language X is essentially language Y … more…
links for 2007-12-11: inshallah
The American Scholar – Inshallah – By Cullen Murphy “The phrase ‘inshallah,’ or ‘God willing,’ has permeated all ranks of the Army. When you talk to U.S. soldiers about the possible success of ‘the surge,’ you’d be surprised how many … more…
links for 2007-11-21: is there a word
Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | A bitch for president Grauniad ponders the B word aVernon asks: Is there a word for a woman who supports a war in Iraq, supports civil war in Palestine…Lebanon…Afghanistan…Pakistan and mulls over starting … more…