May 2013
1 post
“Two experiments are reported in which subjects viewed films of automobile...”
– The Scientific Equivalent of “When did you stop beating your wife?” The quote is from the original study and not the post linked but you know I would never link you to a long-ass study—much less a PDF of a long-ass study.
May 8th
1 note
April 2013
6 posts
Demonstrably: don't be scared.
Thought for the day: demonstrably is a very angry sounding word. But do not be afraid, it won’t hurt you. It just means “in an obvious and provable manner.” But I guess that would scare a lot of people actually because so many people are full of shit.
Apr 26th
10 Word Mix-Ups To Avoid, Presented By Bunnies →
I think this post just rendered my whole blog useless. 
Apr 26th
“New word usage alert! Slash old people are late to the party again!”
– ‘A Rare Bird Sighting’: ‘Slash’ As A New Conjunction : The Two-Way : NPR
Apr 25th
1 note
Apr 16th
28 notes
Email signoffs: End them forever. Best, Yours,... →
This guy is mad! I agree though. Email isn’t a formal medium and signoffs are so formal. I like when my dad says “best” though but old people are always funny on the internet because they don’t know the norms. I like xoxo because it’s silly and everyone knows I don’t like hugging. I also like “sincerely” because I’m basically never being...
Apr 10th
Cursive Is Dead and There Is Nothing You Can Do to... →
Aw, poor cursive. I’ve been saying for years what a waste it was to learn cursive—imagine what I could have learned instead! Like social skills or something. For some weird reason, I still use cursive for checks. I’ve been trying to transition to print but it’s hard. For some reason I thought you had to write checks in cursive. No idea. One question: how will kids nail...
Apr 5th
March 2013
1 post
It's tough to be a European-American
I was recently reminded that this blog exists. In separate news, I came across this article in Philly Mag: Being White in Philly. OMG it’s the worst! But linguistically, it irks me too. Who even says “whites” and “blacks” anymore? I say “white people” and “black people.” I don’t even say “jews.” I feel like...
Mar 4th
1 note
August 2012
2 posts
My new favorite site
Better than English: A site devoted to those words you just can’t translate. I haven’t looked through the whole site yet but I hope ennui is included. That’s my jam.
Aug 29th
11 notes
R Grammar Gaffes Ruining The Language? Maybe Not →
I think I’m on both sides. If your site has grammatical errors, I totes won’t believe anything you say on there.
Aug 3rd
1 note
July 2012
1 post
“There is a distinction between having the legal right to say something and...”
– China Miéville (via kdeln) #word
Jul 9th
29 notes
June 2012
1 post
Art and Architecture Puns →
Haaa, architecture puns. Ridic. 
Jun 13th
1 note
May 2012
3 posts
May 29th
5 notes
The Most Comma Mistakes →
Grammatically, there are various ways of describing what’s going on. One helpful set of terms is essential vs. nonessential. When the identifier makes sense in the sentence by itself, then the name is nonessential and you use a comma before it. Otherwise, no comma. That explains an exception to the only-thing-in-the-world rule: when the words “a,” “an” or “some,” or a number, come before the...
May 23rd
1 note
May 15th
March 2012
1 post
Regional English, Tweet by Tweet - NYTimes.com →
timefornaps: According to a paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Dialect Society in January by Brice Russ, a graduate student at Ohio State University, the 200 million or so messages posted each day in the supposedly placeless world of Twitter may end up being a rich source of information about regional difference. To demonstrate the validity of Twitter-based research, Mr....
Mar 17th
19 notes
February 2012
4 posts
“The idea that young women serve as incubators of vocal trends for the culture at...”
– They’re, Like, Way Ahead of the Linguistic Currrrve
Feb 28th
2 notes
Our Lin-sane attraction to terrible puns,... →
Um…I can’t think of one.
Feb 24th
1 note
Negative affect, you say? →
julianneeee: vegansaurus: “Many people like eating meat, but most are reluctant to harm things that have minds. The current three studies show that this dissonance motivates people to deny minds to animals. Study 1 demonstrates that animals considered appropriate for human consumption are ascribed diminished mental capacities. Study 2 shows that meat eaters are motivated to deny minds to food...
Feb 17th
66 notes
1 tag
Feb 13th
January 2012
1 post
Jan 25th
18 notes
December 2011
1 post
I've been watching too much Bravo
Dec 24th
November 2011
2 posts
Chimps May Have the Ability to Understand Language... →
I read about this sine-wave form speech with dolphins too, pretty cool. Thwarts the naysayers! 
Nov 28th
Nov 11th
1 note
October 2011
1 post
Oct 11th
52 notes
September 2011
2 posts
Sep 14th
1 note
Sep 5th
1 note
August 2011
1 post
The Lexicon of Sustainability | Grist →
Aug 16th
1 note
July 2011
1 post
Exclamation Points and E-Mails - Cultural Studies... →
Pish, whatevs. Use ‘em if you got ‘em!
Jul 4th
April 2011
2 posts
Snarky
I’m getting so tired of this word. Here’s the definition from Free Dictionary: snark·y adj. snark·i·er, snark·i·est Slang 1. Rudely sarcastic or disrespectful; snide. 2. Irritable or short-tempered; irascible. People keep calling vegansaurus snarky and imply that’s something they like but it seems like a bad word. I’m kind of like, only snarky people use the word...
Apr 17th
3 notes
Fun with Gender and Toy Ads! →
Apr 10th
February 2011
1 post
Feb 28th
5 notes
January 2011
11 posts
1 tag
Jan 28th
2,185 notes
Jan 21st
1 note
“locapour n. A person who drinks only locally produced wine or beer. [Blend of...”
– Word Spy - locapour Haaaaaa
Jan 20th
1 note
“Velcro dog n. A dog that always sticks close to its owner, especially by...”
– Word Spy - Velcro dog
Jan 20th
Word Spy →
Kevin Reilly showed me this site. It’s “The Word Lover’s Guide to New Words.” I’m into it.
Jan 20th
Semantic satiation →
readmorewikipedia: Semantic satiation is a cognitive neuroscience phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who can only process the speech as repeated meaningless sounds. For example, say: “smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile smile….”.
Jan 20th
339 notes
stfumansplaining →
My favorite buzzword of 2010 has it’s own tumblr blog now: STFU Mansplaining. The blogger is a man so…yeah.
Jan 12th
Words coined in the 1990s →
Jan 10th
94 notes
3 tags
“I read Jay Rayner’s attempt at a week of veganism, where he suggests that...”
– You know I love when my linguistic interests and my vegan interests converge. Also, “ethnic” is my favorite adjective. talking about things to eat (or: how the words people use to describe food make me feel like a freak) by VEGAN ABOUT TOWN (via supersoygrrrl)
Jan 9th
4 notes
Philly Tawk →
Blogspot site for “a discussion awn Mid-Atlantic English”
Jan 8th
3 tags
Jan 8th
1 note
December 2010
13 posts
Dec 30th
The Dictionary Of Received Ideas →
tristn: tomewing: One of my favourite books. If I were ever forced away from the internet I would certainly pack the Dictionary to remind me of it. Flaubert wrote a dictionary of cliches? I love it, especially the “always” rules: ACHILLES Add ‘fleet-footed’: people will think you’ve read Homer. BATTLE Always ‘bloody’. There are always two sets of victors: those who won and those who lost. ...
Dec 27th
13 notes
2 tags
Words of the year from NYT
It’s that time of year again! Time for the words of the year. They aren’t that exciting this year. My favorite is maybe mansplainer: mansplainer: A man compelled to explain or give an opinion about everything — especially to a woman. He speaks, often condescendingly, even if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or even if it’s none of his business. Old term: a boor.
Dec 22nd
1 tag
Dec 22nd
3 notes
2 tags
Another word-of-the-day downer from the free...
Damn. That “Usage” is crushing.
Dec 22nd
1 tag
Dec 22nd
5 notes
1 tag
Dec 18th
2,711 notes