where have I been?
greetings, faithful reader(s). i've gone over 6 weeks without posting. i'm currently too tired to look anything up, but that may be a record.where have i been? i've been entering grown-up land! but...
View Articlea rhetorical flourish
as i mentioned in my last post, i've put in an application to UC Berkeley's Department of Rhetoric. gah, it just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? a bit about why i'm so ga-ga for this particular ivory...
View Articleadmiral ackbar cereal!?
There's something rhetorically interesting going on in this, known as 'Sh!^ing around - Admiral Ackbar':It makes me think the original admiral ackbar might be the funniest thing ever created. Funny at...
View Articlesan francisco's pleasant rhetoric
the notion that san francisco is an unusually friendly big city has been one of those for which i had no evidence at all until one day, on the muni ([myOO-nee]: i basically ride a trolley to work...
View ArticleIntroducing Invented Versage
invented usage has, in more ways than one, spawned an offspring called Invented Versage (www.inversage.blogspot.com). inverse.blogspot was taken, so Invented Verses was out. No matter for the denizens...
View ArticleIntroducing The Interrationale
Another shameless blog plug: I have recently started a new blog as a creative outlet as well: The Interrationale.Unfortunately, I don't think it is very accessible, at all, since it is essentially just...
View Articlethe prestige hierarchy of domain names
please slide your eyeballs on up to the top of your browser window and look at the url in your browser. language in the realm of computers is particularly interesting because of its ability to command....
View Articlethe slow rise of the plingular
now that i'm working in a writing/editing setting, at some moments i get to discuss usage professionally. sometimes this is particularly interesting, since the News Editor to my Editorial Assistant is...
View ArticleLetter to Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch, Inc. One Busch Place St. Louis, MO 63118 May 1, 2008 To Whom It May Concern: While enjoying one of your affordably priced, moderately quaffable beers the other day, I noticed Busch’s...
View Articlea pretty, preettty, pretttty invented usage
a german exchange student i hosted in high school asked me, "what does 'pretty' mean?""schoen," i said. "beautiful.""but you just said, 'it's a pretty good movie,'" she said."oh! that pretty..." and i...
View Articlea manifesto and call for submissions
language is constantly changing. this truism has always been the foundation of this blog, but i wonder whether i've ever really written about it directly. language changes. i can't begin to think of a...
View Articleinvented fraking usage
no sooner did i say (in my last post) that one person rarely, if ever, has the power to change language, than this lead comes out of AP: What the 'frak'? Faux curse seeping into languageNEW YORK - Lee...
View ArticleChrist on a jet-ski, Hallie!
David Foster Wallace left us this past weekend, and the world is a much sadder place for it. I'd first heard his name when in high school, when my most beloved teacher, Ms. Wilson, recommended his...
View Articlein memoriam: David Foster Wallace
in David Foster Wallace a great part of the american landscape of literature and language was lost. As an addendum to Scott's last post, i wanted to point out the ways DFW touched invented usage....
View Articleinvented usage and friends
first, i want to give a shout out to Jonathan and Lauren, who have been visiting San Francisco for a Linguistic Society of America conference this weekend. it's nice to be in the linguistics loop a...
View ArticleAll the Sudden, It's Windows 7
You've probably noticed that Microsoft is advertising Windows 7 very heavily -- posters from this campaign have taken over the Montgomery BART station in downtown San Francisco, where I go on the way...
View ArticleFunnest. Usage. Ever.
In an interesting symmetry with my last post, the Montgomery Street BART station has been taken over by Mac ads. (Click pictures to enlarge.)Specifically, they're iPod ads, and they are standard Mac...
View ArticleI'm a Mac (Smug) / I'm a PC (Stuffy)
Given the recent attention that Cristi has given to the Great Apple / Microsoft Ad War of 2009, I thought I'd call some attention to some ads that have escaped our Yankee eyes. No doubt, anyone with...
View ArticlePrisencolinensinainciusol
"Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a song composed by Adriano Celentano, and performed by Celentano and Raffaella Carrà. It was first released as a single on November 3, 1972, later also on his album...
View ArticleTomorrow is National Grammar Day
Not sure how excited to be about this, but I suppose, if invented usage celebrates any day, it should celebrate National Grammar Day.It's certainly nice to see that the usage blog community is alive...
View Article