• Home
  • Blog
    • Literature
    • Language
    • Liberty
    • Life
  • Scholarship
    • Benjamin De Casseres
      • Works
      • Blog Posts
      • DeCasseres.org
    • Ursula K. Le Guin
      • Left Hand of Darkness Bibliography
      • Blog Posts
    • Joss Whedon
  • Writing
    • NaNoWriMo
    • Notes and Splinters
    • Sonnets
    • Miscellaneous
  • About
    • Comment Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Contact
Curtis Weyant

Literature. Language. Liberty. Life.

language

Why the Oxford comma is illogical

September 4, 2015 by Curtis Leave a Comment
Oxford comma

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…]

Posted in: Language Tagged: essays, language, writing

Wars of Prescription

April 22, 2015 by Curtis Leave a Comment
Grammar Nazi

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…]

Posted in: Language, Liberty, Life Tagged: atheism, grammar, Joss Whedon, language, libertarianism, politics, religion

Review: The American Language (4th ed.) by H. L. Mencken

August 25, 2013 by Curtis Leave a Comment
The American Language, by H. L. Mencken

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…]

Posted in: Language Tagged: books, language, reviews

The verbness of “gay” and “transgender”

May 19, 2012 by Curtis Leave a Comment
Rainbow flag and blue skies

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…]

Posted in: Language Tagged: grammar, language, words

Words, words, words

March 26, 2012 by Curtis Leave a Comment
Words

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…]

Posted in: Language Tagged: history, language

One Thing Gone Day 2: Instant Immersion Spanish 2.0

November 23, 2011 by Curtis Leave a Comment
One Thing Gone: Instant Immersion Spanish 2.0

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…]

Posted in: Life Tagged: language, lifestyle, One Thing Gone

Copyright © 2021 Curtis Weyant.

Omega CAW WordPress Theme by Curtis A. Weyant