Yesterday evening, Barbara and I drove over to Somerville for a post-solstice/pre-New-Years holiday dinner with my sister and niece. Unfortunately their housemate, Bones, didn’t get enough to eat over the holiday.
Month: December 2015
Linguistics? What’s that?
“A linguist is a person who speaks a lot of languages.” Not. But that’s what you hear from the general (uninformed) public. People are willing — many even eager — to become informed, but they’ve never heard of linguistics as… Read More ›
The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband
One week ago I reviewed The Question of the Missing Head, by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. I liked it. The sequel, The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband, is even stronger. On the whole it’s what you’d expect in a traditional second novel in… Read More ›
Languages of the UK
English, Scots, British Sign Language, Welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Cornish, Manx, Angloromani and Shelta What is the common bond here? Obviously they’re all languages that are currently in use in the UK. Well…no…it’s not that obvious. You probably haven’t heard of Angloromani… Read More ›
Thank you, Mr. Wegman.
Barbara and I had an excellent dinner last night. We prepared all of it from ingredients bought earlier in the day at the Wegman’s in Chestnut Hill. Thank you, Mr. Wegman! Your sherry, lobster tails, stuffed mushrooms, green beans, and shiraz were all delicious…. Read More ›
That’s Not English
It’s entertaining, it’s charming, it’s informative, but…ultimately it’s disappointing. Every chapter shows great promise…and then it suddenly ends before that promise could be fulfilled. That’s Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us, by Erin Moore, is a book… Read More ›
Math is forever.
You can never take a holiday from math. Read this brief but wonderful paragraph from distinguished physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson (retired but still flourishing at age 92!): It’s the beauty of mathematics, as opposed to physics, that it’s forever. I published my… Read More ›
Hitchcock/Truffaut
If you’re a film buff (as I am not), you will want to see Hitchcock/Truffaut, currently playing in Kendall Square, Cambridge. I went with a couple of friends who are film buffs, as I had assumed (correctly) that they would enjoy this documentary about the… Read More ›
The Question of the Missing Head
The Question of the Missing Head is the first in an unusual series of mysteries by E. J. Copperman and Jeff Cohen. What’s so unusual, you ask? It’s that the detective has Asperger’s Syndrome, which plays a significant role in… Read More ›
What’s wrong with periods?
I know why apostrophes are a bad idea, but periods???? Here I am listening to All Things Considered on WGBH, and I hear this report about ending text messages with periods: …Researchers at Binghampton University have found that ending your… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 