Category: Uncategorized
Bryan Garner: making law and language more comprehensible
Despite its ridiculously hagiographic overtones—”leading lexicographer of our time” and “greatest living lexicographer” are just two of the preposterously unverifiable statements in the article, and the first one is in the headline—I recommend taking a look at this interesting D Magazine article about Bryan Garner, author of Garner’s Modern American Usage and editor of Black’s…
Flexting, couch homelessness
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: flexting n. flirting via text messaging. couch homelessness n. not having a home of one’s own and taking temporary shelter with friends or relatives.
The hackneyed headline triple play
The headline Wired Youth Aim to Stir Peers and Sway Poland’s Vote contains three of the most hackneyed words used by lame headline-writers in North America: “aim,” “stir,” and “sway.” All it needs now is “spark” and “controversy” and it’d be a grand champion.
Minigarch, bitza
Recent interesting catchwords from Double-Tongued Dictionary are: minigarch n. a powerful person who is rich but not extravagantly so. From mini ‘small’ plus -garch from a misdivision of oligarch, which comes from the Greek oligoi ‘few’ and arkhein ‘to rule.’ bitza n. a thing that has a mixed heritage or is made of an other…
Wristcutters, A Love Story: upbeat, quirky, classic
I want to direct your attention to Wristcutters, a wry, sharp film starring Patrick Fugit, the kid from Almost Famous. It was produced (with others) by my friend Tatiana Kelly. After it made the rounds of the film festivals last year, I feared the little gem would be lost before they could pick up some…
Paycheck game, pull, deconstruction
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: paycheck game n. in American college football, a sporting competition between a strong, favored team and a lower-caliber team (usually from another conference), for which the favored team pays the underdog a substantial fee. Also called a bodybag game or a cupcake game. pull v. to participate…
Pass the trash, ibby-jibbies
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: pass the trash v. to repeatedly reassign bad teachers to different classes or schools. A synonym for trade turkeys and dance of the lemons. ibby-jibbies n.pl. a variant of “heebie-jeebies,” meaning extreme nervousness or “the willies.”
My new column in the Malaysian Star
This week marks the happy launch of my fortnightly slang language column in the Malaysian Star, an English-language daily paper that includes a “Mind Our English” section three times a week. The paper has a readership throughout Malaysia of about 1.2 million. I’m also pleased to say that my editor there is actor and playwright…
Dry powder, lobbycon, familismo
Recent interesting catchwords from the Double-Tongued Dictionary are: dry powder n. a (venture capital) company’s unspent investment funds. lobbycon v. to attend the site of a professional conference, without enrolling or paying entrance fees, for the purpose of meeting with attendees in the site’s public spaces. From lobby + conference. familismo n. a sense of…
Number one autonomous blog
According to this Russian index (see the original Russian), my weblog is the number one autonomous blog on the Internet, according to the number of readers. That means a blog on its own domain not using a blog hosting service like Blogspot or Live Journal. But, as noted here, Yandex rating is generally one big…