Seen in a building on campus:
This door is now LOCKED and ALARMED.
Note to self: avoid making loud noises that might startle said door.
February 9, 2007
November 29, 2006
“Three-car train for Fremont in three minutes.”
A bit tongue-twistery…and (if you say it right) trochaic pentameter.
November 24, 2006
One of my GSIs wrote of her hometown: “While reading the letters to the editor in the local paper, you flip to the front page to make sure you didn’t pick up The Onion by mistake.”
Now while I usually do my best to avoid a similar experience, I accidentally stumbled upon today’s editorial page in The Enquirer. While the whining about Democrats was no surprise, I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the last opinion, which uses the brilliant tactic of employing racist assumptions to prove that racism doesn’t exist—except against privileged groups in society:
Regarding the article “Census shows racial inequalities persist in pay, schooling, homes” (Nov. 14) discussed racial gaps in success. The implication was that the gaps were tied to racism.
That premise seems highly questionable since the two most successful ethnic groups in America are Jews and Asians. Both are minorities and both have been victims of terrible persecution. How is this possible? One major reason is superior intelligence coupled with cultural emphasis on education to develop that superior intelligence.…
There is no question racism exists in our society, including racial discrimination against white people and Asian people in education. But the critical factors in success and failure seem to be intelligence and making intelligent decisions. [emphasis added]
As much as I’m looking forward to going home for winter break, there are some aspects of Cincinnati that I will never miss.
October 31, 2006
September 23, 2006
If I could have any superpower, it would be the ability to remove all the nuts from a brownie simply by looking at it.
September 12, 2006
Erudite mental commentary: ‘I should tell my nose to fuck off.’
Geeky linguistic mental commentary: ‘Is such a sentence possible in languages which contrast alienable and inalienable possession?’
And in case you were wondering: Gravity > Claritin. (I don’t know the precise magnitude of the acceleration due to Claritin, but I’m estimating it to be around 3.2 m/s2. Pitiful.)
August 13, 2006
…when it comes to written language, that is.
Sadly, it is increasingly difficult for us sticklers to find refuge from offsensive usage offenses.
Minutes after arriving in Montana via the not-so-sprawling Billings airport (it has 6 gates), I was minding my own business by the baggage claim, only to be assaulted by linguistic turmoil in the signage: a violent subject-verb disagreement, only to be outdone by two apostorphe atrocities that would make Lynne Truss blush1:
Later, an otherwise glorious wooded trail in Yellowstone was marred by this affront to proper punctuators everywhere:
And to think that I spent my vacation in ground zero of a linguistic insurgency!
August 6, 2006
Some new entries in my lexicon, thanks to the parks and the Oxford English Dictionary:
- caldera
- (kalˈdera) [a. Sp. caldera = Pg. caldeira, F. chaudière cauldron, kettle, boiler:—L. caldāria, pl. of prec.]
A deep cauldron-like cavity on the summit of an extinct volcano.
- fumarole
- (ˈfjuːmərəʊl) [ad. F. fumerolle (fumarolle): see FEMERELL [ad. OF. fumeraille altered form of fumerole = It. fumaruolo:— L. fūmāriolum, dim. of fūmārium, f. fūmus smoke.] .]
A hole or vent through which vapour issues from a volcano; a smoke-hole.
- pika
- (U.S. ˈpaɪkə, ˈpikə) [< Evenki piika.]
Any of various small rabbit-like mammals constituting the genus Ochotona and family Ochotonidae (order Lagomorpha), having short, rounded ears, reddish-brown or grey fur, and a very small tail, and found in the mountains and deserts of western North America and north-east and central Asia. Also called calling hare, mouse-hare, rock rabbit, etc.
- rut
- (rʌt) [a. OF. rut, var. of ruit:—pop. L. *rugĭt-um for L. rugītum, acc. of rugītus, f. rugīre to roar.]
1. The annually recurring sexual excitement of male deer; also, by extension, periodic sexual excitement in other animals, as goats, sheep, etc.
(Earliest citation, c1410): Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) ii, Þei [sc. harts] be in hir loue, þe whiche men calleth Rutte, aboute þe tyme of holy rode in Septembre.
- travertine
- (ˈtrævə[r]tɪn) [ad. It. travertine, older tivertino ‘a kind of stone to build withall’ (Florio):—L. tīburtīnus TIBURTINE. Cf. F. travertine, in Cotgr. trevertin.]
A white or light-coloured concretionary limestone, usually hard and semi-crystalline, deposited from water holding lime in solution; also called travertine stone; quarried in Italy for building. A less solid porous form is known as calcareous tufa.
- snackcident
- Alas, this one was missing from the OED. Luckily I have another source:
And for those of you who were wondering, the Grand Tetons are so called because the mountains were nicknamed Les Trois Tétons, “the three breasts.”
August 4, 2006
For your viewing pleasure, a sampling of the wildlife spotted in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Hover your mouse cursor over the links to see Wikipedia photos.
- wildflowers:
- alpine aster
- canada thistle
- fireweed
- harebell
- indian paintbrush
