tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57192792009-06-15T12:50:34.828-04:00Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-33823622936444204192009-01-11T19:19:00.004-05:002009-01-11T19:43:41.442-05:00

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 bit, even if i'm not in the linguistics world.Lauren works for a lab in Boston labeling noun phrases for a computer language-recognition project that sounds really interesting. (she's also the only

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-55468214881429740802008-10-01T18:12:00.000-04:002008-10-08T12:13:51.291-04:00

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. better than Dave Eggerswhen we decided to book club on invented usage, our first (and so far, only) attempt was Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. i was still reeling from my first

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-64085637390902788362008-09-17T12:38:00.003-04:002008-09-17T13:16:08.187-04:00

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 magnum opus "Infinite Jest" to me. She knew that I might find the 1,100 page novel a bit daunting, and suggested--if I didn't have the nerve--that I might as well just pick up "Girl With Curious Hair."

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-5239449516313900492008-09-14T18:15:00.002-04:002008-09-17T13:24:46.842-04:00

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 Goldberg thinks Glen A. Larson is a genius, and not because the prolific television writer and producer gave us "Knight Rider" and "B.J. and the Bear."It was Larson who first used the faux curse

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-22539321448309164972008-06-25T23:38:00.004-04:002008-06-26T00:59:55.364-04:00

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 counter argument. who believes that it doesn't? even the most stalwart grammar nazis must admit, grudgingly, that language does change. language changes according to some predictable patterns, some

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-17944286578972527152008-05-07T22:54:00.000-04:002008-05-08T01:40:04.592-04:00

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 discovered i really couldn't define what i'd meant.not only that -- i wasn't completely sure what i'd meant in the first place. did i like the movie "to a fair or moderate degree" as per the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-12811722744700266302008-05-01T17:16:00.001-04:002008-05-01T17:19:04.090-04:00

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 slogan. It read—and you’ll have to forgive my paraphrase—something along the lines of, “Refreshing as a mountain stream, smooth as its name.” With respect to the second

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-54422808326594330632008-04-02T01:04:00.007-04:002008-04-02T01:46:21.149-04:00

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 British. recently, he caught a 'mistake' in an ad. it was the sentence,that's a savings of over $400!"shouldn't it be 'that's a saving,'?" he said, very reasonably. 'why, yes,' i said, 'it probably

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-41348731496749925612008-03-11T21:00:00.000-04:002008-03-12T00:18:33.812-04:00

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. one writes to a computer and, by doing so, actually acts. some liken this to the ancients' belief in the mystical power of language in the form of runes or charms.the url is a particularly

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-84472059637189193452008-03-10T00:44:00.002-04:002008-03-10T00:53:34.182-04:00

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 place to put detailed research notes as I read up on some schools of thought that I didn't get to study in college.The result is all the clarity and cohesiveness of Western Marxist social theory

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-74035605560504981252008-03-05T23:56:00.003-05:002008-03-06T00:06:35.835-05:00

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 of invented usage--we just make it up as we go along.as of right now, my plan is to make Invented Versage a home solely for my poems and commentary about them. i'm in a narcissistic mood about them

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-16585871074711496492008-02-21T00:33:00.002-05:002008-02-21T01:12:28.767-05:00

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 everyday--quaint, no?), i noticed this sign on the driver's cab:Information gladly given but safety requires avoiding unnecessary conversationthe first thing that struck me was, 'why is the print so

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-31043650425743549052008-02-07T01:09:00.000-05:002008-02-07T01:58:40.862-05:00

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 all speeds.But perhaps it's not quite as interesting as *this* remix:These guys are just begging to be widely known on the internet:looks like one of these 'make your own corporate commercial'

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-13644570603093124922008-01-25T20:24:00.000-05:002008-01-25T20:53:23.204-05:00

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 tower, and what i'd do if they let me scale the walls:first, the description on the website: The Department of Rhetoric is a leading center for interdisciplinary research and teaching in the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-41447673897999826432008-01-21T23:13:00.000-05:002008-01-22T01:12:25.563-05:00

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 don't worry, there's lots of language out here too.between christmas and new year's, a friend and i loaded up a u-haul and moved to san francisco. i also managed to find a real, paying job out here

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-79779155961740094472007-12-02T19:46:00.000-05:002007-12-02T20:21:51.681-05:00

I've sort of buried the hatchet. There's at least one reasonable prescriptivist out there, and she blogs here: Red Pen, Inc. I feel like I've got an evil twin. It's a cute, snarkily written blogspot website with a home-made, annotated banner. But she consistently uses capitalization. (I have too, for the last few posts. More on that later.) We exchanged a nice series of emails regarding this post

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-64461175031190410682007-11-09T20:15:00.000-05:002007-11-09T21:52:20.329-05:00

so, in my last post, i discussed the two definitions of error: grammatical or usage error ('spicket' for 'spigot') and technical speech errors ('cattleships and bruisers' for 'battleships and cruisers'). i'd like to address another, somewhat related, error issue that sprung from my thesis project on typos.speech errors follow very predictable patterns. they are totally constrained by certain

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-12361299949116315852007-10-21T18:13:00.000-04:002007-10-22T01:37:18.857-04:00

seb's recent post raises several interesting questions. the one that currently interests me most is: what is the definition of a speech error?for most of the cognitive and linguistic literature on speech errors, it's something like 'an utterance that doesn't correspond to the utterance the speaker intended to produce.' people that use this definition are generally studying instances like "

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-58001177746637350622007-10-17T10:49:00.000-04:002007-10-17T11:14:05.208-04:00

I'm too slow on my defense of a radicalized gaming agenda, but I found a website today that works hard to fight any sort of radicalized linguistic agenda.I give you:Common Errors in EnglishIt is a compilation of "errors" in the English language. It is quite impressive, covering everything from the use of "spicket" to mean "spigot" to the alleged redundancy of "cheese quesadilla."This raises a

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-47991028746195540422007-09-12T21:30:00.000-04:002007-09-12T22:03:50.068-04:00

seb makes an interesting suggestion, though i'm inclined to think he's just upset that i used the word 'sunns' in online scrabble. he suggests that "there's room for an invented usage scrabble variant." and, as usual, i'm inclined to disagree!how do i reconcile my love of scrabble with my "anarchic linguistic crusade"? very simply. scrabble is a game, and games have to have rules. the best games

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-50209152465777655152007-08-02T01:01:00.000-04:002007-08-02T01:22:03.661-04:00

at a poetry reading tonight, a short poet approached the mic and said 'let me just shortify this real fast.' later, the mc offered to 'shortify' the mic for a poet in a wheelchair (i believe she was in a wheelchair... my view of her was completely obstructed by a wall. It's possible she was also short.)anyway, the interesting thing about 'shortifying' is that it forms a minimal pair with another

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-68267120972254212572007-07-28T21:01:00.000-04:002007-07-29T16:38:35.159-04:00

a friend sent me this link to the new york times website recently. (i think it will require a sign-in, but should be free.) apparently a series of children's books is bringing the great grammar debate home to the parents of kindergarten-age kids.junie b. is the name of the back-talking trouble-making main character of the series. junie narrates the book and her kindergarten and first-grade

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-994416148057483442007-07-24T22:51:00.000-04:002007-07-25T00:38:03.655-04:00

i've had a couple of run ins with greening in recent days. espn (i've been watching a lot lately) is greening in san fransisco: an advertisement behind home plate currently says let's green this city(.com, i think)and, in route 66, where i'm currently working, the all-natural window spray i use to clean glass surfaces is called greening the cleaningin the first usage is a a standard

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-10824067731161463222007-07-13T21:41:00.000-04:002007-07-23T17:14:35.174-04:00

aave, or african american vernacular english (a.k.a. black english or ebonics) is a dialect of english most often spoken by african americans. it's often considered to be a substandard version of english, though many have argued for it to be considered a separate language or an equally accepted dialect and view its substandard status as the result of racism and prejudice.whichever side of this

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-13297636414631695842007-05-13T22:38:00.000-04:002007-05-14T00:42:09.107-04:00

one of my monikers in cyberspace, unsumupable, has stirred up an interesting controversy lately. a particular friend approves of it heartily, but comments, "shouldn't it be 'unsumableup'?" how can one be 'right' when making up a new word? how can we possibly decide? of course, linguistics might offer a solution...so, what's going on here? we have ourselves a verb, "to sum" or maybe "to sum up,"

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1