Tag Archives: Language
Beautiful words
Word maven Patricia T. O’Conner quotes this passage from Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginnings and asks us simply to savor the language: At around age six, perhaps, I was standing by myself in our front yard waiting for supper, just … Continue reading
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Jenny Holzer rocks so damn hard
I’ve loved Jenny Holzer’s work ever since I discovered her “Truisms” — “Lack of charisma can be fatal,” “Confusing yourself is a way to stay honest,” “Children are the cruelest of all” (or, conversely, “Children are the hope of the … Continue reading
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Farewell to Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens has died. It seems appropriate to quote here, as I’ve done earlier, something he said in one of his many debates against religion and unreason: I don’t know if you really think that when you die you can … Continue reading
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Speak with conviction
A fantastic spoken-word piece by Taylor Mali, animated by Ronnie Bruce: Bravo. I’ll post more by Mali soon. If he and Sarah Kay are examples of the caliber of talent coming out of the spoken-poetry world, I’m seriously going to … Continue reading
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How many continents are there?
An excellent example of the imprecision of our language, and of how our definitions and categories tend to get fuzzy around the edges: Reality may literally be too complex for words. (via The Dish)
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So what be humanism, me hearties?
Aarrrr! In honor o’ International Talk Like a Pirate Day, here be one o’ me old posts on humanism, done pirate-style. (A taste below.) Want t’see what me whole blog be like in pirate talk? Click ‘ere. An’ ye can … Continue reading
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Words matter
This comes via Robert Krulwich, who writes about a debate over whether language alienates us from, or connects us to, the world. The answer, of course, is both. Language is a tool, and a powerful one. It’s up to us … Continue reading
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“Human speech is like a cracked tin kettle”
As if the fullness of the soul did not sometimes overflow in the emptiest metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows; and since human speech is … Continue reading
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The evolution of English
The Open University has a delightful 10-part series of humorous (and, I presume, mostly accurate) videos about the evolution of the English language. It’s a reminder of just how astonishingly rich the language is, how varied its roots, how strange … Continue reading
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Why stereotypes need to die, cont’d
Because people who have English accents aren’t automatically smarter or more sophisticated than people with American accents, thank you very much. The main significant effect found in this study was that people who’d lived at least three months outside the … Continue reading
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