word of the day

The ten most irritating phrases, according to some folks at Oxford.  For those of us here on the ground, I think all of these, and more, have jumped the shark, irritant-wise. Update (11 November).  A TV commercial reminded me of my personal bete noir:  Do the math.  I’ve done and taught my share of financial… Read more

Some city councils in Britain are banning "elitist" and "discriminatory" Latin words and phrases to avoid confusing immigrants.  The gang at Language Log declares the exercise to be politically correct "poppycock."  To steal a line from an old joke, Latin may be a bit difficult to learn, but what language did the dumb Roman kids… Read more

Since the folks at Stuff White People Like haven’t gotten around to it yet, let me mock stuff that chavs, hipsters, bobos, and wannabees like.  Today I pick trick names, like Moon Unit, Keanu, and Zeta-Jones.  Trick names are tricky; you want one to sound hip and distinctive, without instantly identifying you or your child… Read more

And Geoffrey Pullum has a great post over at Language Log in recognition.  He briefly (and correctly) touches on my pet peeve, the careless substitution of the word that for the word who, as in "I’d like to meet the person that painted this picture."  That is for objects or animals, who is for people. … Read more

…and Arnold Zwicky over at Language Log is having the vapors about it.  How can he take an organization acronymed as SPOGG seriously?  I’d be happy if my students were able to match pronouns to antecedents, avoid singular verbs with plural subjects, and write a paragraph in something other than the present tense.  Proactively renormalizing… Read more

From Drudge: MAG:  COURIC ‘SLAPPED’ STAFFER Sun Jul 08 2007 19:44:52 ET CBS EVENING NEWS anchor Katie Couric is being accused of slapping an editor — after he injected a word she detested into a script! "The stress has caused her to blow up at her staff for small infractions on the set," charges NEW… Read more

Sometimes wonky conservatives give me a pain in the backside. Ramesh Ponnuru wrote this despicable apology for legislative earmarks today, and Senator Tom Coburn responded. One heck of a smackdown, and a popularization of a wonderful neologism: earmarxists. Best paragraph: … Porkbusters represent what is arguably the only grassroots movement since 1994 to gain traction… Read more

"I do, however, object to some anonymous, scrofulous nerd pumping meaningless drivel into cyberspace at all hours of the day and night simply because he can’t find a girl to sleep with him. These are the sort of wackos who gun down their fellow students at university." Come over here and say that, twinkie.  70… Read more

…manspace.  Real men have offices, dens, labs, shops, studios, or garages. Effete arrivistes*, insecure in their masculinity, have manspaces.  Of course, this could just be the latest in doubleplus unsmart journospeak. *second definition, of course.  I can’t be Sweetness and Light all the time. Read more

…kafirophobia, a dread of the inhabitants of the Great Satan and all the Little Satans. Read more