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Category Archives: Language

Painful

Monday, March 11, 2013

Sports headline in this morning’s Day (not repeated on-line): Huskies win easy 

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More adventures in semantics

Saturday, March 9, 2013

As one ages one acquires the right to become a curmudgeon, or at least one tends to believe that to be the case. Having reached a not yet ripe, but still old age, I am going to indulge myself. The object of my not-quite-wrath? Why, as often, the New York Times, whose style book, in [...]

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An implied confession

Thursday, July 12, 2012

  It seems many Republicans are upset about the fact that Obama is successfully introducing the real Willard to the American public: Conservatives have lit up talk radio programs across the country, worrying whether Mr. Romney’s business record has been “Swift Boated,” referring to attacks waged against Senator John Kerry’s military record in 2004. The [...]

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Adventures in Semantics, Redux

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A few days ago I noted that the Mystic River Press featured this front page (very large type) headline: RTM tries new tact on budget Apparently the disease is spreading. Today I saw this, in an article about the demise of unlimited data plans, at a computer blog called EverythingICafe: AT&T has taken a different [...]

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Adventures in Semantics

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Front page headline (not on-line) from the Mystic River Press: RTM tries new tact on budget

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Humpty Dumpty bested again

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Richard Mourdock, who just beat Richard Lugar, in the Republican Senatorial primary in Indiana: Well, what I’ve said is that I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view. [...] Bipartisanship means they have to come our way [...] As a practical matter, this has been the operative [...]

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The English Language pleads for mercy under the Republican onslaught

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Richard Grenell, is, or was, Romney’s National Security Spokesman, in charge of dispensing lies concerning Foreign Affairs. In a richly ironic development, he has had to resign from his job defending one form of Republican craziness because his open homosexuality got him in trouble with an entirely different group of Republican crazies. I have no [...]

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Another fauxpology

Friday, April 27, 2012

Monica Crowley “apologizes” for her offensive and illogical tweet (“To a Man?”) regarding Sandra Fluke’s engagement: Regret my tweeted question caused a stir. I certainly & unequivocally apologize to Sandra & anyone else I offended. Not my intention. This comes slightly closer to being an apology than the Zimmerman fauxpology, but when properly translated, it [...]

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Pay that word overtime

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

One of my favorite passages from Alice in Wonderland: When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said [...]

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English Lesson

Saturday, April 21, 2012

We are told by the press that George Zimmerman apologized to Trayvon Martin’s parents yesterday. It is a curious thing: people, meaning the press, who live by words, so often seem to have no idea what they mean. The word was used in today’s Day, Times and Globe, and was all over the internet yesterday. [...]

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