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- ADAPTING GATSBY. (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: I think these are crucial, important decisions, what to leave out of any literary work, maybe any...
- DAMIEN HIRST—AN ART MARKET BUBBLE?. (1)
- Kate Bush: I hope you enjoy my visit to the Damien Hirst show as much as I did The Technical Impossibility of...
- THE MOST IMPORTANT EPISODE OF THE SIMPSONS ? (COMMENT). (1)
- Nick: Homer does has success as the team’s best hitter until Mr. Burns places a bet with a rival factory owner...
- THE “RIGHT TO EDIT”. (1)
- Lee: A relevant Simpsons clip.
- ULYSSES—VIRGINIA WOOLF LIKED THE BOOK, DESPISED THE AUTHOR. (3)
- A DEFENSE OF INVASIVE SPECIES. (3)
- Dick Weisfelder: Today’s Toledo Blade has an article on the importation of live Asian carp to Canada to serve...
- Lee: The downside is that red squirrels are way cuter than their gray cousins. Hitchens on the subject.
- THE OLDEST FANTASY BASEBALL LEAGUE STARTS ITS 32ND SEASON. (COMMENT). (5)
- frank martin: Have been in a an Al only Roto league since 91… started at Ohio University were we all went to...
- DEATH OF A BUMBLEBEE. (1)
- Nick: By contrast, I remember witnessing the entire thing. I was surprised by Annalisa’s reaction and...
- ANOTHER VOTE ON UMBRIDGE. (1)
- Dick Weisfelder: When I look back at one of the Potter books, it’s usually this one. There are just a lot of...
- THE SCARIEST VILLAIN IN HARRY POTTER? (1)
- Dick Weisfelder: Didn’t we all meet her somewhere in grade or high school?
- ADAPTING GATSBY. (1)
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Monthly Archives: January 2010
HOW PRONUNCIATION CHANGES—NEOPOLITAN DIALECT.
HOW PRONUNCIATION CHANGES—NEOPOLITAN DIALECT. Kids, your grandmother’s Neopolitan dialect provides a good example of what John McWhorter says is the typical way that pronunciation in a language tends to change over time. McWhorter uses the example of the Italian word … Continue reading
Posted in History, Uncategorized
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SCIENCE FICTION… THAT…EXPLORES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER.
SCIENCE FICTION…THAT…EXPLORES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER. I have posted a number of times on James Tiptree, Jr., a highly regarded science fiction writer, and on Alice Bradley Sheldon, who was Tiptree. I knew Alice Bradley Sheldon when I was young, … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
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MICROCLIMATES FIVE YARDS WIDE.
MICROCLIMATES FIVE YARDS WIDE. I posted here about Fernand Braudel’s use of the idea of a microclimate—that each square mile of the earth has its own climate. The Economist had an article a couple months ago about how satellites are … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, History
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IS THE PAST REAL?
IS THE PAST REAL? I am aware of the fact that in light of relativity theory physicists have ideas about space and time that are very hard to grasp. For example, as this wikipedia article indicates, the phrase “Time is … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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ARE THERE ELEVEN BASIC COLOR CATEGORIES?
ARE THERE ELEVEN BASIC COLOR CATEGORIES? As I posted yesterday, I would have thought that the fact that grue languages do not distinguish between green and blue would be evidence that color cognition is in part influenced by language (culture). … Continue reading
Posted in art, Uncategorized
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DOES LANGUAGE SHAPE HOW WE SEE COLOR?
DOES LANGUAGE SHAPE HOW WE SEE COLOR? It turns out that when I posted here on “grue” languages, I was also stepping into the “fierce debate …in linguistics.” A “grue” language does not distinguish between green and blue. This wikipedia … Continue reading
Posted in art, Uncategorized
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MY WHORFIAN TENDENCIES.
MY WHORFIAN TENDENCIES. Without realizing it, I have been taking sides in the “fierce debate” among linguists. It turns out that I believe that language can shape thought. I posted yesterday on how I agree with feminists that “he” rather … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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DOES LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK?
DOES LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK? Many feminists argue that using “he” as a pronoun where the actual sex of the person is unspecified diminishes women—that is, the word usage affects how we think about women. I agree, but … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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“THEY”—AN APOLOGY.
“THEY”—AN APOLOGY. Kids, I had arguments with each of you when you were in middle school and high school about whether you could properly use “they” as a gender-neutral singular pronoun (that is, saying, “If a student drops their book.”) … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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THE GRAMMATICAL ERROR OF THE COLLEGE EDUCATED.
THE GRAMMATICAL ERROR OF THE COLLEGE EDUCATED. In response to a question from Dick Weisfelder, I identified OUR MAGNIFICENT BASTARD TONGUE: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF ENGLISH by Jon McWhorter as a surprise Christmas present I got this year. Annalisa found … Continue reading
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