Nod and Smile

Events past and quite recent have gotten me thinking about logic. I’m not talking about funky symbols and math proof kind of logic. I’m talking about logic and argumentation that people use when they talk and write. And what I’ve been thinking about it is this: people have forgotten how to use logic, […]

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I’m not one to do things on time.
After reading Alejna’s post on Monday, I learned about the Monday Mission, that many have been doing, and that Painted Maypole is hosting for the moment. Not a bad concept, and I’m glad to know about it now. This week’s mission: song rewrite/parody of song […]

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OK, the summer has passed, and school is about to start once again. I feel like now that some time has passed, I can give a retrospective of some of the things I learned last semester being a discussion section leader in a 101 level class.
I went to a big state school, and I […]

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Clearly, this is the sign of the apocalypse we’ve all been waiting for:
Weekly World News to publish last issue August 27, 2007

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My friend Manda, who works as a publications editor at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, found this gem on mcsweeneys.net:
Notes on “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, as Delivered to Axl Rose by His Editor

And yes, sometimes you do wonder where the inspiration comes from:
When I wrote in colored pencil, “Where do we go now?” I […]

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Jean-wa nihongo-no shiekibun nitsuite paper-o kaku no ni tsuk-are-ta.
Jean-TOP Japanese-GEN causatives about paper-ACC write C DAT tired-PASS-PAST
“Jean is tired of writing papers about Japanese causatives.”

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Today, the Linguist List posted that folks at MIT have reproduced Noam Chomsky’s Original 1955-56 Thesis in PDF format.  They found the slowly deteriorating microfilm in some Harvard archive and decided to scan it and post it.
The dissertation is 919 pages long.  Nine hundred and nineteen pages.  919 pages before computers.  Before word processors.  Before […]

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Who cares what people say about prescriptive grammar.  Grammar and punctuation nitpicking was the privilege of a time when people knew how to write.  There are better ways to spend your time.  And since when is the Microsoft Word “green squiggle” the authority on language use?
Which at the beginning of a restrictive relative clause has […]

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