Category Archives: language

Cogito, ergo non possum dormire

The above delightful phrase is the title of a new “mostly political (libertarian), mostly link-hound, mostly for my amusement blog.” Oops! For those of you whose Latin has gone rusty, that means I Think, Therefore I Cannot Sleep.

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who owns the alphabet?

Results of searching for each of 26 letters. (Found at Aaron Swartz’s Googlog)

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hwæt!

Hrodulf the Red-Nosed Reindeer: An Original Old English Poem Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor– Næfde þæt nieten unsciende næsðyrlas! Glitenode and gladode godlice nosgrisele. . . . . This came to me by mail some weeks ago, with the funny letters mangled beyond my … Continue reading

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orthoepy

A rant in defense of mis conventional pronunciation (relayed with approval by languagehat): . . . Or were we planning on spending the rest of our lives saying “Paree” for Paris? So to answer your question – no, I think it’s sad … Continue reading

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Operation Gnashing Butterfly

Ftrain Random Military Operation Names Generating Device

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if you do not appease us

I heard once that in Sweden or Norway (curse the porosity of my memory) there was an organized campaign to stamp out an offensive second-person pronoun, with buttons proclaiming “I don’t say ___!” Unfortunately, the person who mentioned it did … Continue reading

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that’s just the drugs talking, dear

Do you enjoy dictionaries as much as I do? The Office of National Drug Control Policy (boo hiss) publishes this one: Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade. (Link provided by Michael Travers, as an aside from a digression about … Continue reading

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