Category Archives: language

THE BIG FLUSH

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

I don’t know.  Maybe this ad is clever, and maybe American Standard does good works in foreign lands, but it ju-u-u-ust doesn’t work for me.

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THINKING IS HOT!

Posted on March 7, 2013 by

I didn’t know that thinking had such a major effect on global climate.  But Science magazine (25 Jan 13, Vol. 339) so states, so it must be true.

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SURPRISE IN ISRAEL

Posted on December 30, 2012 by

Jimmy Svizzera, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, gets into a serious car accident in Israel.  Israeli first responders rush to the scene and begin to ply their tools, cutting Svizzera out of the wreckage in minutes. Svizzera is seriously impressed.  When … Continue reading →

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WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

Posted on November 16, 2012 by

In 1845 or so, a young London dandy engages a cab.  The cab goes clippity-clop for miles through streets socked in by the proverbial London fog and, of course, ankle-deep in equine ordure.  On arrival, the dandy is moderately impressed … Continue reading →

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BRILLIANT INSIGHT!

Posted on November 10, 2012 by

I just found out something incredibly informative from a One A Day multivitamin TV commercial, namely: “Research suggests that cell health plays an important role in your life.” “Research suggests?”  I am not even going to try to parse this … Continue reading →

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BEWARE! ALL THEE EXCLAMATIONIZERS!!!!!

Posted on August 8, 2012 by

Interesting and timely column here at the NY Times (h/t Maggie’s Farm) about online writers’ poor punctuation habits.  It offers hair-raising examples of multiple exclamation marks, refusals to use periods, going upper case, and even a monstrosity that combines the … Continue reading →

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MSNBC CREATES A NEW COUNTRY

Posted on July 31, 2012 by

This morning, a formerly U.S. competitor won the gold medal in skeet shooting.  I say “formerly,” because the MSNBC commentator identified the anthem that was played as that of the “United States in America.” The media are getting way too … Continue reading →

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INTERRUPTING DOCTORS AND FREUDIAN SLIPS

Posted on June 14, 2012 by

Here is a good article on why doctors interrupt.  The advice given to docs – bite your tongue and listen – seems like very good advice. I could not resist noting this delicious Freudian slip in the article: The surgeon … Continue reading →

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CURTAIN CALL!

Posted on June 10, 2012 by

Per the Via Meadia, British archaeologists have discovered the remains of the other Shakespearean theater in an alley behind a London pub.  This was the Curtain Theater: not quite as famous as The Globe, but significant because it was the … Continue reading →

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POLISH – I SAY AGAIN “POLISH” – DEATH CAMPS?

Posted on May 30, 2012 by

You can’t make this up… Barack Obama, in awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to the intrepid anti-Nazi Jan Karski, spoke of the “Polish death camps” which Karski had penetrated in order to report on what was really going … Continue reading →

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