Archive for the ‘Such Language!’ Category
Patriotic Atheists
It's amazing how easy it is for some people, let's say some political "leaders" — okay, let's make that presidents and their presidential fathers, simply to write off big chunks of their citizenry. This exchange is reported as taking place between G.H.W. Bush & Robert I. Sherman (a reporter for the American Atheist news journal) […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Whose Pyramid?
For one thing — probably because I'm one of those radicals who tend to think that MicroSoft is the evil empire (recently confirmed) — I've always turned my nose up at anything quaintly called "My_____", since it always sounds to me like an unwarrented intrusion into already decaying standards of discourse by the evil empire's […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Speaking of Science, Splenetics, Such Language!
The Crow's Ear
I am now certain that Avedon Carol (of The Sideshow) is a person after my own heart for pointing out this gem from The International Herald Tribune Just 15 hours after he died on Saturday night, the great pageantry around the death of a pope began Sunday morning, with a huge public Mass in St. […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Mythical Monsters
[–> "Maryland Mythical Monster" people, please see below.] I have just discovered that I'm not the only one (I hadn't really expected to be, either) who has in interested in seeing the search strings that people use to get to my blog. (My earlier remarks about some unusual search strings are here.) Richard Rockley of […]
"Ethical Lapses"
The thing that strikes me as odd, as I read the mushrooming stories about Tom DeLay, is that these stories keep using the phrase "ethical lapses" to describe his syndrome; given the phrase's currency, it must have originated at some point and then been parroted since. Usually, we associate the word "lapse" with a brief […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Their Dismembered Remains
Pigeons strutted happily among their dismembered remains. [Ghost of a Flea, by James Sallis, p. 101.] The meaning is assisted, somewhat, by the preceding sentences: I'd gone across for coffee and doughnuts…. We'd both wisely foregone the doughnuts after tasting them. Pigeons strutted happily…. I'd say it makes a strong case for using the semi-colon.
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Earworm Origins
Deep down, I'd like to believe that I don't really care that much about priority and doing things first and getting proper credit and all that, but sometimes a matter comes along that is so supremely unimportant, so trivial and petty, that one can get a little irritated. This is one such story, and it […]
Negative Fluidity
From "DeLay Ethics Allegations Now Cause of GOP Concern", by Mike Allen (Washington Post). "If death comes from a thousand cuts, Tom DeLay is into a couple hundred, and it's getting up there," said a Republican political consultant close to key lawmakers. "The situation is negatively fluid right now for the guy. You start hitting […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Such Language!
You Snollygoster You!
I enjoy words quite a bit, often more than I should, sometimes to distraction. Years ago I wrote a short essay about my then-fondness for the word "madcap", which I'm still fond of even if it's not at the top of my list of favorites. Yesterday I was reading and something reminded me that I've […]