Category: Language Matters
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Age Quod Agis
Age quod agis is a well-known saying which is a sort of Latin call to mindfulness: do what you are doing. Be here now in the activity at hand. Legend has it that Johnny Ringo was an educated man. (Not so: a story for later.) But so he is depicted over and over. In this scene from Tombstone, the best…
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Word of the Day: Conurbation
"An extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of one or more cities." See here. You weren't taught Latin in high school? Then you were cheated by 'progressive' idiots. But if you were taught, then you know that the Latin for 'city' is urbs, urbis. Knowing this, you are in…
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Of ‘Whither’ and ‘Whence’
I had a teacher in the fifth grade who, when one of us inappropriately wandered off, would query, "Whither goest thou?" alluding, as I did not realize at the time, to the Gospel of John (13:36): Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow…
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A Linguistic Curiosity
Such words as 'poetess' and 'actress' are falling into disuse: the grammatically masculine 'poet' and 'actor' are now used gender-neutrally for both sexes. Why then the stink over the gender-neutral use of 'he' to cover both males and females as in such sentences as in 'He who hesitates is lost'? If there is no objection…
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God, Pronouns, and Anthropomorphism
I was delighted to hear from an old student of mine from 35 years ago. He writes, In your writings, you often refer to God in pronouns bearing gender. Does such language result in God’s anthropomorphism? I would reformulate the question as follows: In your writings, whenever you refer to God using a third-person pronoun,…
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Word of the Day: Camarilla
cam·a·ril·la ˌkaməˈrilə,-ˈrēə/ noun noun: camarilla; plural noun: camarillas a small group of people, especially a group of advisers to a ruler or politician, with a shared, typically nefarious, purpose. "a military camarilla that has lost any sense of political reality" Origin mid 19th century: from Spanish, diminutive of camara ‘chamber.’ Source.
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Tavis Smiley Too? ‘Inappropriate’ Sexual Conduct?
The witch hunt is on and the Left eats its own. PBS has suspended distribution of Smiley's late-night talk show. I don't think much of Smiley's opinions, you understand, but I fear that we may end up like the Soviet Union or China under the Cultural Revolution. Don't tell me it can't happen here; just…
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Of Coulter and Kant, Screwed Pooches, and Milked He Goats
Ann Coulter: Everyone who screwed the pooch on this one better realize fast: All that matters is immigration. It's all that matters to the country, and it's all that matters for winning elections. She's right: read what she has to say. What caught my eye, however, was the expression 'screw the pooch.' I now send you to…
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Irony Deficiency
Some suffer from an iron deficiency; the cure is straightforward. Others from an irony deficiency; I know of no cure. I wrote the other day: Long-time reader E. C. sends us to rapper Joyner Lucas, I'm Not Racist. It warms my heart this holiday season to see how wonderfully race relations have improved since the '60s…
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Schopenhauer in Italian on Schadenfreude, La Gioia per il Danno Altrui
If to feel envy is to feel bad when another does well, what should we call the emotion of feeling good when another suffers misfortune? There is no word in English for this as far as I know, but in German it is called Schadenfreude. This word is used in English from time to time, and…
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Language Rant: Taking Responsibility and Taking Credit
Another note for benighted journalists who have, but too often do not honor, their duty to preserve and protect the English language in all her expressive and thought-guiding glory. What one takes responsibility for may be either good or bad. What one takes credit for, however, is good. Terrorist acts are not good. Therefore, do…
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A Simple Point of Logic Journalists Ought to be Aware Of
One often encounters sentences like this one: There are many arenas in which all ideas are not considered equal. This example is from a recent piece in Vox. I could give further recent examples, but one is enough. To simplify, consider just the core thought: All ideas are not considered equal. Unfortunately it is not…
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‘Never-Trumper’
You are misusing 'never-trumper' if your usage does not comport with this conditional: If you are a never-trumper, then you are a conservative, real or at least self-proclaimed. Bill Kristol is a never-trumper; Hillary is not. Underlying principle: do not engage in verbal inflation without a damned good reason. If a word or phrase has…
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A Note on Vox Clamantis in Deserto
This just over the transom from London Ed: Pedantic, but I think you will secretly enjoy it. Matt. 3:3 quoting Isaiah 40:3. The Vulgate has Vox clamantis in deserto: parate viam Domini. [Right, I checked both quotations in my Biblia Vulgata.] There has always been a question about the parsing of this. Is it A…
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On ‘Devout’
One reads that so-and-so is a 'devout Catholic' or a 'devout Muslim.' How would the writer know? Devotion is an interior state inaccessible to observation from without. The practicing Catholic or observant Muslim, by contrast, can be seen to be such by others. So if what you mean to convey is that so-and-so is a…