Found in Jaron Lanier’s [*You Are Not A Gadget*]([canonical-url:2013/05/26/finding-internets-inner-human]). I haven’t read enough of the book to tell much about it, but it should be clear from the title that *reification* is the kind of word one would likely find in its pages. … Read the rest
I stumbled across [a passage from *Moby-Dick*]([canonical-url:node/1564]) which tickled my fancy today. In there was a word I can generally discern from context, but of which I was unfamiliar. *Footmanism* itself isn’t found in my Shorter Oxford or Chambers Dictionaries, but *footman* refers generally to one who goes on foot but more specifically to one whose occupation it is to run next to a coach or horse in order to attend to the needs of the passenger or … Read the rest
I don’t normally include words here that come from Word of the Day sites as it seems a bit like plagiarism, but today’s OED Word of the Day is *[poseuse](http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/265105)*, which tickled my fancy. It had not occurred to me that there might be a feminine counterpart to poseur. Though gender-specific names for roles and professions are increasingly seen as distasteful, somehow, doing so in French doesn’t seem so bad. Not that there is any real difference between … Read the rest
This holiday season Sears’s slogan is «how to gift.»
I know more than a couple people who share a pet peeve: the use of the word *gift* as a verb. They complain with good justification that it is common to turn a noun into a verb in place of choosing words with enough care that no made-up word would be necessary. Normally I’d be in agreement, but in the case of *gift* I’ve defended the usage.
The difference in usage is whether … Read the rest
Note the word «excessive» in the definition above.
This word has been coming up frequently these days with the Occupy Wall Street protests happening. It comes up in two contexts. First, on cardboard signs, t‑shirts, and website manifestos, usually paired with the word, «corporate.»
The second is in reaction to the first context where those offended by the protesters mock the fact that the protests themselves are facilitated by corporations and «corporate greed.» From brand-name clothing to the smartphones people are … Read the rest
The word kakistocracy popped up in Johnson, the Economist’s language blog. Normally I don’t include words unless I have to look them up for some reason other than idle curiosity or seeing them on a word of the day site or the like. In the specific case of word of the day sites, it would feel a little like plagiarism to every day post the word I’d «looked up» by seeing it as the word of the day.
But Kakistocracy … Read the rest
I can’t fault the New York Times too much. After all, they were quoting what others said in yesterday’s article Can a Playground Be Too Safe? about the effects of modern safety playground equipment on the emotional growth of children.
«Paradoxically,» the psychologists write, «we posit that our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology.»
These conclusions should not be at all surprising. This lesson was learnt … Read the rest
She: I’ve got to get up and get lunch. I’m like an amoeba today.
Me: Heterotrophic?
In the age of text messaging, one can use Wikipedia and a dictionary for one’s snappy responses.… Read the rest
Found in a quoted section of a New Jersey child abuse case in a recent post on The Volokh Conspiracy. The post uses the case to raise questions of balancing religious freedom and parental rights in legal cases.… Read the rest
My father is fond of a kind of coughdrop-like candy called horehounds. I knew from his description that the candy got its distinct flavor from a plant of the same name, but what I did not know is the relation to the word hoary. When I opened my Chambers Dictionary today looking for flibbertigibbet, the book opened into the Hs and the entry for horehound caught my eye. According to Chambers, it is «a hoary labiate plant.» Hore is … Read the rest