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.
Continuing with this year’s Christmas theme, we have “Jewish Kid Born on Christmas Day Talking Blues“ by Sally Fingerett, best known as one of the Four Bitchin’ Babes:
Raise your hand if you have personal knowledge of the true story of the Nativity. OK, most of us were not there at the time, Connie Willis to the contrary notwithstanding, so we have to rely on the words of… Read More ›
This goes out to a surprising number of couples I know. (I could have sent it to Barbara before we got married, but not now, as husband ≠ boyfriend.) I heard it on the Unorthodox podcast a little over a… Read More ›
Most likely you expect that I’m going to answer the question in the title by saying “Not me. I don’t read poetry.” If you’re a pedant — or if you believe that I am — you expect that I’ll say… Read More ›
Skinny little Vincent keeps warm by curling up with his fat, furry, and much larger sister, Mollie:
Finally the American people have woken up and understand the Electoral College (EC), or at least its importance. Well, at least somewhat. My Quantitative Reasoning (QR) students at the Crimson Summer Academy (CSA) certainly understand it: how many electors each… Read More ›
Can you help me solve my ethnicity puzzle? You might have some ideas, especially if you yourself have Ashkenazi heritage. Ancestry sent me this information about my paternal grandfather (from the 1910 Federal census). Does everything look right to you?… Read More ›
Even without actually doing anything, I’m exhausted just from watching this four-minute video! This is definitely not the life of a typical college freshman as portrayed in the media. So the question remains: how many freshmen — excuse me, “first-years” — are… Read More ›
Who cares about the mathematics of elections? We all should, of course — especially now. An informative, even entertaining way to learn about this topic is to watch the videos of CGP Grey. For a scary example, take a look… Read More ›
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