25 August 2007
24 Aug: More on how words are selected for inclusion in “the” dictionary by Erin McKean of The Dictionary Evangelist.
Sex Change v. Gender Reassignment
25 August 2007
24 Aug: Joey DiGuglielmo, editor of the Washington Blade, has an interesting article on use of these terms and, more generally, on how newspapers use style guides. Some interesting insights into how PC language is used in the journalistic trenches.
Language Burier
18 July 2007
On Monday, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show did a story on making English the official language of the US. Too funny.
Quotative Like
17 July 2007
Sunday’s International Herald Tribune has a piece on the quotative like, the use of the word like to introduce a quote, as in:
She was, like, “I wouldn’t be caught dead in that outfit.”
Like it or not, it appears as if this use of like is here to stay.
Top Ten Useful Yiddish Words
9 July 2007
Daniel Finkelstein, comment editor for The Times (London) provides a guide to using a handful of Yiddish words. Example, on the difference between the Yiddish shmooze and the English chat:
Tony Blair and Bill Clinton schmooze. Gordon Brown and Hillary Clinton chat.
Americans may not understand all the references to Britons.
