Are you old enough to know the English phrase “sent to Coventry”? According to Merriam-Webster, if you were “sent to Coventry,” you have been ostracized. Although the cover story of the July 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction featured a… Read More ›
Boston’s rich history of public transit deserves your attention if you live in, work in, or have visited The Hub. That’s short for “Hub of the Universe,” in case you missed the memo. Boston is nothing if not proud of… Read More ›
William is preparing for his upcoming 17th birthday by taking a power nap on his kitty couch to make sure that he remains cute enough.
Read The Book in hardcover! Not in paperback. Nor on your Kindle. And don’t listen to it as an audiobook! The hardcover is essential. The full title is The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time, as you… Read More ›
The world is atwitter at the arrival of a new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley. Well, a certain segment of the world, anyway. And you may well wonder why. The idea of reading this epic poem has never appealed to… Read More ›
If you heard a short sample of a language that you didn’t know, could you still guess which language it is? Quite a challenge, no? Well, in this video, you have the opportunity to see Latvian linguist Julie Maksimova face… Read More ›
Robert Galbraith has a secret identity, though you won’t spot him changing in a phone booth. What’s his secret identity? Well, many people know him better by his pseudonym, J.K. Rowling. No, wait! That can’t be right. J.K. Rowling is… Read More ›
According to a post the other day in All Things Linguistic, it is widely believed that the correct translation of “OK boomer” into Middle Egyptian is whereas they point out that a more accurate translation would of course be Perhaps… Read More ›
The Hound Font of the Baskervilles? We’ve all learned, particularly in the last few years, to be cautious about believing what we read. Some people (though not nearly enough of us) have even learned to be cautious about what we see… Read More ›
OK, I tried to release this at precisely 3/14 1:59:26.535897932384. How well did I do? But why would the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) lie to us about Pi Day? This is just too distressing for words: Declared a… Read More ›
Chess, of course, is endlessly fascinating. For some reason, however, I no longer play chess. I never became good at it, even though my dad started me on it at an early age. Chess meant a lot to him because… Read More ›
I started thinking about college, as one does in certain families, when I was in eighth grade. I had no idea where I wanted to go, but I was pretty sure that I would want to major in Classics. What… Read More ›
For the last few months it has seemed that nobody in Massachusetts appreciates teachers (I’m talking to you in particular, Governor Baker). But then I spotted this sign on someone’s front lawn during my walk today. It is on Msgr…. Read More ›
Last night it was once again time for Barbara and me to enjoy takeout from our favorite local restaurant, the Ashmont Grill! Of course takeout is not the same—either gastronomically or socially—as dining in, and it’s not warm enough yet… Read More ›
This great video will repay your close attention! And it does demand close attention. Also, you should definitely turn on closed captioning, unless you happen to be fluent in Catalan, French, Latin, and Spanish. And of course you’ll be listening… Read More ›
Apparently I am the only person in the world who has trouble with emojis. I find, at least as they are usually used, that they are too small for me to pick out the details. Most of the facial expressions… Read More ›
Catherine Savini has an interesting piece in a recent issue of Inside Higher Ed. Although it’s aimed at college professors, it applies equally well to secondary educators. The issue is a familiar one: how to respond to students who don’t speak or… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 