Tag Archives: language
twonked, blather
It was twonk that did it. I just suddenly realised that when I had read the word ‘twonk’ in passing, a day or two ago, probably the first time I’d heard of it. But welcome, twonk, the ultimate in gentle … more…
Copacetic
So, word of the day was Copacetic. It showed up first in How The Dead Live by Will Self, and then failed to show up in the online dictionary, or my dead tree dictionary. The explanation for the word linked … more…
Erring on the Side of Danger
AlterNet: Misinterpreting Osama’s Message: Erring on the Side of Danger Diane Perlman argues that we ignore the plain meaning of OBL’s pronouncements at our extreme peril. I’m not about to summarise; just go and read it. (via gordon coale)
A handy guide to Rhetorical Figures
A handy guide to Rhetorical Figures, with which it is possible to determine whether one is guilty of Aposiopsis, Paraprosdokian or Syllepsis (to name but three), but with no indication of whether one should worry about them. (via Random Walks … more…
Physics bitten by reverse Alan Sokal hoax?
Physics bitten by reverse Alan Sokal hoax? We all laughed when Alan Sokal wrote a deliberately silly paper entitled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity”, and managed to get it accepted by a refereed journal of … more…
favourite French colloquialisms
Gail Armstrong has a wonderful collection of her favourite French colloquialisms today at Open Brackets. My favourite of her favourites? Tu viens de louper une bonne occasion de te taire. (“You’ve just passed up a golden opportunity to say nothing”)
wood s lot does an Enthusiasm Special
Mark Wood has a clutch of links this morning on the subject of enthusiasm. It’s a word with a complex and fascinating history, as suggested by the succession of meanings given in the definition that sits beneath the blogroll over … more…
Boundary Violations
Jon Pollard points out an article by Will Self from Friday’s Independent, The love that will not shut up. “…while we think of “gay” as an adjective applied to people, historically same-sex loving has not been perceived as being an … more…
John McEnroe in The Chair; Themroc (1972)
I don’t know how it’s been around your neighbourhood this week, but around here, some people have been losing it; being on the verge of it, and then suddenly, not being on the verge anymore. People have been snapping like … more…
Lipsum.com
Well, there goes another myth. Lipsum.com is a site dedicated to the “Lorem Ipsum” dummy text as used by typographers, layout artistes and web designers to designate block text provides a brief but fascinating history, and reveals that contrary to … more…