When the topic of the Oxford comma comes up, there are typically two reactions: Exuberant support Resounding indifference There are, however, few people who argue vociferously against the Oxford comma. I am one of those few people. The Oxford comma is unnecessary. Here, I refute the most common arguments people repeatedly use to show the … [Read more…]
Several discussions, occurrence and articles over the last few months have led me to develop a unifying thought about the concept of linguistic prescription and its manifestation in the social and political realms. In particular, it seems to me that many of the world’s great debates, and the problems that arise from them, are centered … [Read more…]
I’ve wanted to read this for awhile, and eventually decided to pick it up during my recent Dresden Files sprint, to cleanse the palate between Harry Dresden’s various lengthy and often amusing beat-downs. It took me awhile to finish, but honestly not as long as I thought it would, which is perhaps a testament to … [Read more…]
This post is about what words mean. It’s not about legality, morality, or any other -ality. Just saying that up front. Earlier this week, sci-fi author and film critic John Scalzi (whose writing I very much enjoy) wrote a lengthy post on his blog comparing the Straight White Male (SWM) privilege to the lowest difficulty … [Read more…]
I ran across a few posts today about words, each of which was intriguing in its own way: 1. Screenwriter John August(Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, Go, to name a few) observed the growing use of “dialog” over “dialogue”. The former spelling originated as a technology term — specifically in context of a “dialog box” or … [Read more…]
I bought this at a clearance rack somewhere — maybe at Borders when it was closing? Not sure, but anyway I fully intended to use it. Unfortunately, the Mac application included on the CDs is not compatible with newer versions of OSX, and I do not have a PC to install it on. Not to … [Read more…]