Quick: who said the sentence in the title of this post? That’s right, it’s your favorite Member of Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene! Linguist Mark Liberman, incidentally a former classmate of mine, observes that Steve Silberman nominated the above sentence of Greene’s to… Read More ›
Every American Jewish family—and a few Gentile families as well—have a family story that they’re convinced is true: the family name had been changed by an immigration official at Ellis Island more than a century ago. In my case, the… Read More ›
“Always read the plaque.” This is getting out of control. I now have 13 books on my list of Top Ten Favorite Books! The 99% Invisible City is now the thirteenth. Something has to be done. And why, you ask, are there 13 books… Read More ›
Leading Republican congressman Jim Jordan is well-known as an expert on “pronouns“:
Suppose you did something wrong—unintentionally. Does your lack of ill intent mitigate the offense? The issue arose recently in a slightly heated conversation with a good friend of mine. I was upset with her because she had inadvertently done something… Read More ›
Spotted on today’s walk in Dorchester, at the corner of Neponset Ave and South Monroe Terrace:
Spotted on Carruth Street during yesterday’s walk:
That’s what I kept asking myself as I was watching the PBS Nova episode Petra, Lost City of Stone, which I somehow missed when it first aired six years ago. This amazing archaeological site in Jordan competes in quality with… Read More ›
“There’s only one of me!” you protest. But that’s not what I mean. Co-host of the Unorthodox podcast Mark Oppenheimer discovered (unsurprisingly) that there are others who share his name, and that got me wondering: How many Larry Davidsons are… Read More ›
Yes, Leonard Cohen wrote this back in 1992, and performed it in 2008 — but it’s the song we need today as we close out 2020.
