Perhaps for some odd reason you have never looked at a modern edition of an ancient or medieval text—whether in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Old Norse, Sanskrit, Old High German, or whatever. In that case, it’s not too late to start!… Read More ›
Linguistics
Back when Heinlein was antifa (really!)
When I was growing up and reading a lot of science fiction, the Holy Trinity of sf writers consisted of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein. Often they were called “The Big Three.” They had a number of… Read More ›
Happy Bloomsday!
As you probably know, today is Bloomsday, the annual Irish holiday commemorating the 24-hour period over which James Joyce’s Ulysses took place. As you also know, I had announced in this space last month that I would be (re)reading that… Read More ›
Basque? Isn’t there anyone around here who speaks Basque?
Well, the Basques do, of course. But they aren’t one of the major ethnicities in these parts; I’ve known only a couple of Basques in the Boston area. In linguistics courses the Basque language is the standard example of a… Read More ›
Frogs? Yes, Frogs!
“Brekekekéx-koáx-koáx!” Unless you google it, you probably don’t know what that means or where it’s from. Perhaps it would be easier in the original Greek: “βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ.” No? That didn’t help? Well, I’ll tell you. It might help if… Read More ›
Wordle, Wheel of Fortune, Jotto, & the Mathematics of Information Theory
Apparently I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t play Wordle. I’m not entirely sure why I don’t, but I can think of a couple of possibilities: it’s far too competitive, it’s far too rigid, and it’s far too… Read More ›
Languages get simpler over the centuries, right?
After all, Spanish is simpler than Latin, isn’t it? And modern English is surely simpler than old English. So that proves it. Or does it? Well, no. There are at least two things that are wrong with the common claim… Read More ›
A strange book cover puzzle
You recognize this book, right? A glance at the cover makes it obvious what book this is. But then… You look again and start asking yourself why it says Garri, not Harry. And that reminds you of two things: It… Read More ›
A “more perfect language”?
The Foers know what they’re talking about. You are probably familiar with Jonathan Safran Foer, and perhaps you know his brother Franklin Foer. But this post is about his other brother, Joshua Foer—in particular about a long non-fiction piece he… Read More ›
Irises
Irises. Perhaps, like some people I know, you don’t believe that that’s how the plural of iris is spelled. Perhaps you prefer the original spelling, ἰριδες. In any case, our ἰριδες are doing quite well, considering that it’s only mid-May.
Learning Strategies 