Well-chosen words

Why is English spelling such a tangle? It all started when Latin-speaking missionaries arrived in Britain in the 6th century without enough letters in their alphabet. They had 23. (They didn’t have “j”, “u” or “w”.) Yet the Germanic Anglo-Saxon languages had at least 37 phonemes, or distinctive sounds. The Romans didn’t have a letter,…

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

What’s your comma IQ? Mine just so happens to be awesome. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Similar:D&D-Themed movie Zero Charisma pits Nerds vs. HipstersMy wife usually gives me nerd-themed DVD…CultureYes, Duolingo is free and I’ve learned a lot. No, I don’t like the psychological manipulat…Yes, Duolingo is free and I’ve learned a…EthicsAuditioning in Pittsbugh (flanked by…

4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence

I’m particularly tickled by the MLA reference. 4 Copy Editors Killed In Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence | The Onion Similar:Kirk's manly, sensitive advice to young CharlieIn popular culture, Captain Kirk from th…CultureInfographics: the PowerPoint of the 2010sI used to say that PowerPoint slideshows…CybercultureAs White Evangelical Vaccine Refusal Reminds Us, Sometimes Religion is…

Pheromone – A hormonal substance secreted by an individual.

Really helpful definition from a “Pinkalicous” children’s theater study guide. That’ll clear everything right up for the kiddos, won’t it? Similar:700-year-old picture of 'Mickey Mouse' found in Austrian church”Walt Disney first sketched his characte…ArtMasked, vaxxed, and settling in to watch live theaterBarebones is a little black box theater,…BooksAll Good Things… (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7,…

Study shows college students think they’re more special than ever…even those that can’t read or write and barely study

A hype-heavy treatment of a recent study (named vaguely as the “American Freshman Survey,” in the article, but not actually cited or dated… I found a copy of a 2011 report). While students are much more likely to call themselves gifted in writing abilities, objective test scores actually show that their writing abilities are far…

Wikipedia hoax about a war that never happened deleted after 5 years

My first-year writing students generally know they aren’t supposed to use Wikipedia as a source in a research paper, but many can’t quite articulate why. A willingness to trace a citation to its source and evaluate the source, rather than accept the source uncritically, is crucial to intellectual competence in the Information Age. An article…

BBC Four – Shakespeare Uncovered

I’m slated to teach Shakespeare this fall… blogging this for future reference. Six Shakespearean actors and directors go in search of the greatest dramatist who ever lived by revealing the stories behind and the wonders within some of his greatest plays BBC Four – Shakespeare Uncovered. Similar:Carolyn at about 7yo drew Titania in love with…

Neil Gaiman’s Journal

This is great advice for everybody. I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something. So…