I thank Jonathan Liu of GeekDad for posting a good commentary on the implications of paper books vanishing with the rise of e-readers. So much of the discussion complaining about e-books seems to center on paper book (or newspaper) aficionados as being luddites holding on to “old technology” all for the feel of paper and [...]
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Loophole comes from the Dutch word liupen meaning to peer as in from a slit in a castle wall while staying protected. From there it gains a meaning a gap, omission, or ambiguity that makes it possible to evade a difficulty or obligation – as in taxes. So when is closing a loophole a tax-hike? [...]
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Vitriol 1. See sulfuric acid. Any of various sulfates of metals, such as ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, or copper sulfate. 2. Bitterly abusive feeling or expression. In a recent CBS poll, 57% said that they did not believe that political vitriol was responsible for Jared Le Loughner’s shooting spree. I tend to agree. Still the [...]
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I guess those Google ad words can work! Seriously this is a great story of a young ad copywriter who found a way to get his book in front of the creative directors at Young & Rubicam. The beauty of Alex Brownstein’s idea is that is so very simple. By directing Google ad word campaigns [...]
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On a cold, rainy day like today, everyone needs a laugh (in addition to a good cup of tea.) If you are a fan of the folks at NPR you will enjoy this. Robert Siegel gets the honors for best of video I think.
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While motivating myself to do a bit of dusting the other day I realized that “dust” was an autoantonym – a word that has two meanings that are very different. I was removing dust (or at least attempting to rein in the dust bunnies) but was thinking about a making a flourless chocolate cake and [...]
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Podium as a verb? Well athletes do medal these days. I have not given too much thought as to when verbs like ‘to summit” or “to surface” came about or if there was quite a bit of complaining at the time they slipped into regular conversation. I am a fan of On Language in the [...]
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A wonderful discussion of the origin of phrases many of us use in everyday conversation fell into my email box by way of my brother, Jonathan Gillard Daly. The author is James Pickering, a fellow actor with Jon at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre and devotee of the study of language and history. As he urged [...]
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You may not be aware of recent discussions online to find a pronoun that is neither masculine or feminine, singular or plural. As authors Patricia O’Connor and Stewart Kellerman pointed out in an article in the New York Times a few weeks back, the Twitterati are looking for an out to using his and her, [...]
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