. . . the Vermont town of Killington, VT is considering the possibility of seceding from Vermont . . .
Well that’s a relief. If the Michigan town of Killington, VT were to debate seceding from Arizona, that would be silly.
It wasn’t long ago that Apple was considered an also-ran, a niche company with Golden Delicious products but Granny Smith sales.
Golden Delicious is one of the blandest apples, so I wouldn’t be surprised to learn it outsells Granny Smith – but wouldn’t the metaphor make more sense with Granny Smith on both sides?
This morning I watched a five-way conversation in sign language, in which two of the participants were blind: the blind ‘listener’ rests a hand loosely around one of the speaker’s hands. I was surprised at how little touch was apparently needed.
I often hear it argued (usually by tax cranks) that where the law says something like
As used herein, the term “United States” includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other territories and possessions
it means that the law does not apply to Illinois. I wonder whether any of the twenty people who read these humble rantings can point me to any ruling in which the word include was held to be exclusive.
I’ve occasionally seen this language in contracts and/or regulations:
The masculine includes the feminine, and the singular includes the plural.
Am I to understand that such a clause redefines he to mean only the feminine they?
At a restaurant, I was briefly puzzled by an advertising card that read
ルービロポッサ
ruubiropossa?? No, sapporobiiru!
The Head Heeb: The Sovereign Democratic Republic of Pitcairn. The most astonishing detail of this item is a correct use of the phrase eked out. (Cited, on other grounds, by Chris Brooke (The Virtual Stoa).)
we understand each other worse, and it matters less, than any of us suppose.
[Which goes well with this item.]
This item was found by Jim Bisso (Uncle Jazzbeau) and discussed at more length by and with Languagehat.
One of Nunberg’s examples is: The pool is deceptively shallow. Some take this to mean the pool is deeper than it looks, some the opposite — but I wouldn’t use it either way; to me it means that the pool both is and appears shallow, but one who infers from that lone fact that one can safely wade in it would be dangerously mistaken (because it has alligators or treacherous currents).