Learning Strategies

Recent Posts - page 49

• Keeping the Faith: Is it a Jewish film?

  By ljd42 on March 24, 2020

  

  A priest and a rabbi walk into a bar on St. Patrick’s Day…. Yes, it sounds like the beginning of too many jokes. But in this case it’s the opening scene of a movie, Keeping the Faith. As a romcom, it’s not… Read More ›

• Zia Gianna

  By ljd42 on March 22, 2020

  

  Take-out lasagna portions from Zia Gianna last night: one slice of meat sauce with peas, one with spinach, gooey cheese with both of course. Warning: these are not only delicious but also huge! Barbara and I together ate less than… Read More ›

• No social distancing?

  By ljd42 on March 20, 2020

  

  Apparently they don’t understand about social distancing.

• Which non-Anglophone countries speak English most fluently?

  By ljd42 on March 19, 2020

  

  I’ve known lots of non-native speakers of English who speak English fluently. Some of these are friends of mine, some are friends of my family, some were my classmates, some are my students. But is there any pattern to the… Read More ›

• A Very Stable Genius

  By ljd42 on March 18, 2020

  

  As you know, the U.S. is currently being led by “a very stable genius,” as our dear leader calls himself. I finally finished reading A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America, written by two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters from… Read More ›

• Unorthodox Quarantine Bonus

  By ljd42 on March 16, 2020

  

  I was trying to avoid writing anything about the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, because that’s of course what everyone is talking about. But, sitting here in self-semiquarantine, I have just listened to a special 16-minute bonus episode of the Unorthodox… Read More ›

• Don’t Believe a Word!

  By ljd42 on March 15, 2020

  

  Do you want to get a serious look at linguistics from an author who writes clearly for a general audience? If so, read David Shariatmadari’s Don’t Believe a Word: The Surprising Truth about Language. When I say it’s for a general audience, you… Read More ›

• Which states have you visited?

  By ljd42 on March 13, 2020

  I’m not quite sure why this has been going around the Internet, but people are understandably reluctant to travel right now, so maybe it’s a good time for a visual representation of where you’ve been (USA only, unfortunately). Link is… Read More ›

• The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols

  By ljd42 on March 12, 2020

  

  The perennial Sherlock Holmes strikes again! Nicholas Meyer, author of the famous The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, follows that up with another Holmes pastiche, this time with much more serious content: debunking the antisemitic hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion…. Read More ›

• Quidditch in Yiddish, etc

  By ljd42 on March 11, 2020

  

  Surely you want to read the Harry Potter books in their new Yiddish translation, don’t you? “But I don’t read Yiddish!” you exclaim. That’s admittedly a handicap. But you can make some progress by sounding out the Hebrew letters (with… Read More ›

• You probably think this song is about ___________________ (who? not you).

  By ljd42 on March 10, 2020

  

  Which picture shows Christine Lavin? Anyway, listen to her song about a certain someone:

• Bay State Model Railroad Museum Open House

  By ljd42 on March 9, 2020

  So you’ve never heard of the Bay State Model Railroad Museum? Well, it exists, even if you haven’t heard of it. It’s very small — but yes, it does exist and seems to be thriving, right in the heart of… Read More ›

• What difference could a few zeroes make? Zero is nothing, isn’t it?

  By ljd42 on March 8, 2020

  

  Bloomberg spent $500 million on ads. The U.S. population is 327 million. He could have given each American $1 million check and still have money left over. I feel like a $1 million check would be life-changing for most people…. Read More ›

• Which is better, having or wanting?

  By ljd42 on March 7, 2020

  

  “After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.” — Mr. Spock in “Amok Time.” I’ve recently been watching various recommended episodes… Read More ›

• “Any Dem will do.”

  By ljd42 on March 5, 2020

  Vote Blue, no matter who! And here is the inestimable Randy Rainbow: In case you don’t know the original for this song, check out how Randy compares to Donny Osmond.

• Dim sum at Chau Chow

  By ljd42 on March 4, 2020

  

  During a brief break from her 14-hour stint as an election warden at the polls yesterday, Barbara and I had a delicious dim sum lunch at Chau Chow on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester. Since it’s a weekday, there were not… Read More ›

• Words for Granted

  By ljd42 on March 3, 2020

  

  Don’t take words for granted. But do take Words for Granted. What can that possibly mean? Words for Granted is a pop-linguistics “podcast about how words change over time,” in their own words. They’re going strong at 83 episodes so… Read More ›

• Tsundoku: The practice of buying more books than you can read

  By ljd42 on March 1, 2020

  

  The Japanese have a word for it. According to Melissa Breyer, “tsundoku” describes piling up books to save for later… even if you’ll never actually read them. Thank you, Betsy Miessner, for this link. I don’t speak Japanese (despite a few… Read More ›

• What’s wrong with grammar.com?

  By ljd42 on February 29, 2020

  

  Apparently there’s one four-letter word that “does great damage to way too many people.” No, not that word. This one is “like.” So says Edward Good, the developer of grammar.com; check out the excellent (and very short) article on this… Read More ›

• Wrong address?

  By ljd42 on February 28, 2020

  

  Somehow I suspect that they sent this to the wrong email address. Should I fill out the form? I do meet three of their criteria, after all.    

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