Author Archives
In 2018 I semi-retired by retiring from Weston High School after my 21st year teaching mathematics there. This was also my 44th year as a teacher altogether. In 2023 I retired fully, adding in my 18 years at Harvard’s Crimson Summer Academy each summer. For 21 years I had taught at the Saturday Course in Milton, MA, and I used to serve on the board of the Dorchester Historical Society.
I read, cook, and spend a lot of time building my model railroad. For some reason I’m left with less free time than would be ideal, considering that I’m supposed to be retired, but somehow I also manage to devote time to my wife, Barbara, and to our varying number of cats (once up to six, but now sadly down to one).
Larry Davidson
ljd@larrydavidson.com
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What do you notice about King Charles III’s accent?
After the last few days, I’m sure you have observed that King Charles III’s accent is not identical to his mother’s. But to most of us they both seem to be speaking RP, the “posh” British accent that contrasts with cockney… Read More ›
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What’s wrong with the word “inbox”?
Nothing is wrong with it! Even peevers who dislike all words that are newer than 50 years old can’t object: inbox is actually 64 years old! (In the sense, of course, of the physical tray on your desk, not in… Read More ›
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Always look on the bright side of life.
My friends tell me that I am an incurable optimist. That’s OK. I don’t want to be cured. I want to remain an optimist; I’m happier that way. As Eric Idle sang in Monty Python’s Life of Brian, you should… Read More ›
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A “newish” Agatha Christie…plus a golden oldie
There was, of course, no doubt: I had to watch the 2018 BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence, even though I hadn’t (and still haven’t) read the original. The movie is adapted from a 1958 novel, one of… Read More ›
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We just can’t stay away!
Barbara and I seem to go to the Ashmont Grill more often than some people would expect. But we just can’t stay away! Last night, being a Thursday, was Buck-a-Shuck, so Barbara started with a dozen delicious oysters. I started… Read More ›
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Nasty, brutish, and short
If you don’t recognize the title of this post, it probably means that you didn’t pay attention in your college philosophy class! Or perhaps your professor just didn’t teach you about Hobbes (that’s Thomas Hobbes, not Calvin and). That’s right,… Read More ›
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Tell me again why you want to be a schwa. Perhaps it’s because you think it’s never stressed? Well, think again!
ə and ʌ: If you know those two symbols, can you hear the difference? (If you don’t know them, think about the English word above. It has two vowel sounds (as the third vowel letter is silent): the first is… Read More ›
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Flicka’s toes
Flicka is showing off her stripey nose and her extra toes:
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Trust what you read! (On second thought…)
You might not be familiar with a certain gastronomic website, The Passionate Foodie. If you do know it, you probably go to it for excellent advice about food and drink, as well as interesting articles about the history of food… Read More ›
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The Taking of Pelham 123 and The Taking of Pelham 123!
No, that is not a misprint. And no, I didn’t watch the same movie twice—although I’ve been known to do that with a very few carefully selected movies. In this case it’s simply that I watched two versions: the 1974… Read More ›
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How has Phillips Academy Andover changed in a little over half a century?
Cover of Andover Magazine, August 1968: Cover of Andover Magazine, Summer 2022:
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Dinner at The Bowery
Barbara and I had dinner last night on the beautiful patio of The Bowery in Lower Mills. Lobster roll with gigantic tater tots for her, properly cooked (i.e. rare, as ordered) steakhouse burger with side salad for me. Good food… Read More ›
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It’s not Hillbilly Elegy. Fortunately.
Let’s suppose Hillbilly Elegy were a novel, i.e. fiction. And suppose its author, J.D. Vance, were an honest writer. Then Hillbilly Elegy would turn into Lady Chevy. Of course Hillbilly Elegy is actually a memoir, not a novel. And J.D…. Read More ›
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Bad linguistics is bad science. Is it also bad politics?
You might think that the subject that we call linguistics is purely academic—in both senses of the word. But of course linguistics is also political, as is seen in all the controversies about pronouns, Ebonics, and PC language. This post,… Read More ›
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More about “There’s no word for X in language Y.”
All too often I hear (or read) that “there’s no word for ________________ in __________” for some particular word and some particular language. I wrote about this kind of claim three years ago. I think I need to quote that… Read More ›
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Superintelligence?
Probably this debate is esoteric enough for you. But let’s see. We start with a remark by Scott Aaronson on his Shtetl-Optimized Blog: Last month, you’ll recall, Steve [Pinker} and I debated the implications of scaling AI models such as GPT-3 and… Read More ›
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RIP Vincent, 2004–2022
Vincent died today. He could barely stand up, and he had almost entirely stopped eating. For his last meal he managed to eat a couple of teaspoons of chicken-flavored baby food. At the end he weighed 5.8 pounds. He was… Read More ›
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Nominal patterns
My older niece is named Hannah. My younger niece is named Aviva. My older great-niece is named Eve. And now, as of last night, my younger great-niece is named Ada. Aha! Do you detect a pattern?
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Are we now in the Twilight Zone?
This is not the only Twilight Zone episode that one never forgets. At least it’s not the only one that I never forgot, and it seems more and more relevant every year, especially this summer. I first saw it when… Read More ›
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He moved up in the world (from Providence to Brattleboro), changed his name, and then…
And then he became the murder victim in Archer Mayor’s latest novel, Marked Man. Of course “moving up in the world” is a matter of opinion; I don’t mean that he moved north, although he definitely did do that. No… Read More ›
Learning Strategies 