Tag Archives: linguistics

We Must Not Offend Anyone! – Political Correctness and “Merry Christmas”

Posted on 27th November 2011 by stephanie

Some people at this time of year prefer to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, because they’re afraid it will offend non-Christians. I’m not Christian. And I don’t really give a crap about what religion people are trying to … Continue reading →

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Prayer, Grammar, Activity and Passivity in Twitter Trends

Posted on 25th November 2011 by stephanie

I’m annoyed. Today, one of the top trends in Twitter is #prayforjustinbieber. Why does Justin Bieber need prayers? To stop people from chasing him? Why doesn’t he just do what Graham Chapman’s character did in Monty Python’s The Meaning of … Continue reading →

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Dangling Modifiers and Giving Ray Bradbury a Blowjob

Posted on 21st November 2011 by stephanie

I’m evil. I’ve found yet another geeky reason to link to Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom: Talking on Facebook about dangling modifiers and the need for correct grammar and spelling: Grammar hammering needs to be done when the … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Edmond Halley!

Posted on 8th November 2011 by stephanie

On today’s Google Doodle: Today is Edmond Halley’s 335th birthday. He’ s the English astronomer best known for computing the orbit of the comet in his name. I didn’t know that “Halley” (as in the comet, named for the English … Continue reading →

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Shivanaut Scarves – Oh My Stars and Garters!

Posted on 4th November 2011 by stephanie

My current project is a set of seven scarves, for Havi Brooks’ Playground Shop at The Fluent Self.  They are knit with Lion Brand Jiffy yarn (Shocking Pink, and Black), which I bought from a fabulous online yarn shop called Banyan … Continue reading →

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Say What You Mean And Mean What You Say

Posted on 28th October 2011 by stephanie

Arguments over use of language continue. It would be much simpler to invent new words for these concepts. This Wikipedia article discusses the use of the adjective “Polish” in reference to the Nazi concentration camps in World War II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_death_camp_controversy  … Continue reading →

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Bilingual Babies

Posted on 18th October 2011 by stephanie

Yesterday, I wrote about linguistics and language acquisition in kids under 3 years old, so I needn’t belabor the point here. Here’s an article that I came across today: Hearing Bilingual: How Babies Sort Out Language http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html?_r=1 Doesn’t the mental … Continue reading →

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Your kid can’t pronounce a letter? Don’t panic!

Posted on 16th October 2011 by stephanie

On Facebook recently, I saw a woman fretting over the fact that her 22-month old daughter couldn’t pronounce the letter “L” in words like clock, cluck, flock, clear. She wanted to know whether she should look into getting the child … Continue reading →

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