Category: Language Matters
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‘Politicization,’ National Debt, and Global Warming
The Republicans were accused of 'politicizing' the debt crisis. But how can you politicize what is inherently political? The debt in question is the debt of the federal government. Since a government is a political entity, questions concerning federal debts are political questions. As inherently political, such questions cannot be politicized. If to hypostatize is…
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Why Typos Don’t Matter and the Musical Watershed That Was the ‘Fifties
An old friend from college, who has a Masters in English, regularly sends me stuff like this which I have no trouble understanding: I trust that you ahve emelreis of going pacles with your presnts in cars before the days when the shapr devide came and deliniated clearly the music that our presnts like and the…
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‘Experience’
The Mayo Clinic sent me a brochure containing the line, "Most patients begin their experience at the outpatient clinic." Now I don't know about you, but when I seek medical attention it is not an experience I want but treatment. If I could get the treatment without the experience, so much the better. Similarly, when…
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Why Exaggerate?
Why do people exaggerate in serious contexts? The logically prior question is: What is exaggeration, and how does it differ from lying, bullshitting, and metaphorical uses of language? A physician in a radio broadcast one morning said, "You can't be too thin, too rich, or have too low a cholesterol level." Note first that the…
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Dennis Prager and Exaggeration
Dennis Prager warns against exaggeration. He says, rightly, that to exaggerate is to lose credibility. But he himself exaggerates when he refers to the Social Security sytem as a Ponzi scheme. Obviously, it is not. Admittedly, in its present configuration it is fiscally unsustainable like a Ponzi a scheme. But it is not a Ponzi scheme…
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On Redundancy
Redundancy is a stylistic flaw at worst. A noted chess writer advises, "You need to get psyched up within your own mind." One does indeed need to get psyched up to play well. But is it possible to get psyched up in someone else's mind, or outside any mind? So the admonition is redundant and…
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Untranslatable? Then Not Worth Translating!
When I hear it said that some text is untranslatable, my stock response is that in that case the text is not worth translating. If it cannot be translated out of Sanskrit or Turkish or German, then what universal human interest could it have? The truth is one, universal, and absolute. If you have something to say that…
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A Political Anagram
A malcontent liberal suffers from an abnormal intellect.
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On the Misuse of ‘Theology’
This is an addendum to my post On the Misuse of Religious Language. In that left-wing rag, the NYT, we find: “When you buy gold you’re saying nothing is going to work and everything is going to stay ridiculous,” said Mackin Pulsifer, vice chairman and chief investment officer of Fiduciary Trust International in New York.…
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A Note on Political Rhetoric
Is the Social Security system a Ponzi scheme? Many conservatives so label it. But obviously it is not a Ponzi scheme. The intent behind such schemes is fraud. Not so with the SS system. If your point is that the SS system as currently configured is unsustainable in the long run, and is to that…
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Pious Language
Flannery O'Connor, The Habit of Being, p. 227: "I doubtless hate pious language worse than you because I believe the realities it hides."
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Prima Facie Evidence
A reader inquires: Is 'prima facie' evidence something with self-evident contextual significance or a evidence that constitutes some sort of transcendental first principle? I am having some trouble with this concept. The Latin phrase means 'on the face of it,' or 'at first glance.' Prima facie evidence, then, is evidence that makes a strong…
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Latin and Greek for Philosophers
James Lesher explains key words and phrases. Yes, kiddies, this will be on the final. (One of 927 reasons I hated (most, not all) teaching was that 'students' would ask: Will this be on the final?) If you classicists out there find any mistakes, please let me know.