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Category Archives: Language

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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A bit of quibbling over semantics

Saturday, January 28, 2012

 We’ve been hearing a lot about Romney’s tax return lately. I personally have been struck (stricken?) by the number of times I’ve read statements, even from left wingers, to the effect that Romney earned $21 million last year. Here’s one example, but it shouldn’t be hard to find more. This appeared to me to be […]

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“Religious Liberty” redefined

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

John Lennon once opined that “Everything is the opposite of what it is, isn’t it?”. Personally, I hesitate to embrace this aphorism wholeheartedly, but it certainly appears to be the right wing point of view, where, in true Orwellian fashion, no dictionary is safe. Like Humpty Dumpty, they insist that words must do their bidding, […]

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The Times uses the “M” word

Sunday, May 15, 2011

When the United States uses them, they’re “contractors”. When the same contractors work for the United Arab Emirates, the Times finds the courage to use the right word: mercenaries. Words do make a difference. We don’t need “ethnic cleansing”, when “genocide” will do, and no one ever calls them “Hessian contractors”. Erik Prince, the paymaster […]

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Gud Wryting at the Dey

Friday, February 18, 2011

Punditry can be a demanding avocation. Today, for instance, I tried to pen something about Glenn Beck, Wisconsin, the Koch Brothers, and the infinite capacity of American’s to be deluded into voting for their own oppressors, but it just didn’t come together. All that work, and nothing to show. The article will remain forever embedded […]

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I stand 100% for English only politics

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

At the last Drinking Liberally get together I was expounding on an observation I’ve made before about Republican Presidents I can personally recall. That is, those that lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue while I have breathed the air of this dying earth. I have observed that, over time, each Republican President makes his or her […]

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