Category: Language Matters
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Hegel on History: Another Case of Misattribution
Misattributed to Hegel: "We learn from history that we do not learn from history." Close, but that's not what he says. I haven't checked the following quotations, but they look good to the eye of one who has read his fair share of the Swabian genius. HT: Seth Nimbosa Was die Erfahrung aber und die…
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Fetterman Unfettered: Against Ableism
In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, John Fetterman is currently competing with Dr. Mehmet Oz for a seat in the U. S. Senate. Any objective person who observes both men in action can see that Fetterman is mentally, morally, and politically unfit for office. (I won't comment on the 'hoodie,' the ugly forearm tattoos, the neck…
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On the Correct Use of ‘Begging the Question’
Substack latest.
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When Vocabulary Contracts . . .
. . . thought contracts with it.
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‘Depredatory’
The phrase 'depredatory Left' popped into my head this morning. I asked myself whether 'depredatory' is a recognized adjective. Then I thought, "If it isn't, it ought to be, and I shall introduce it." Well it's already in recognized dictionaries, as it ought to be.
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Words of the Day: ‘Claque’ and ‘Clique’
Definitions and differentiation here.
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Questions about Pronouns, Sex, and ‘Wokism’
Elliot Crozat writes, During my visit, one of our conversation topics was pronoun usage. If I recall, on one of the hikes, you gave the example "He who hesitates is lost” and asked about the function of ‘He.’ You then said that this pronoun seems to function as a universal quantifier such that, for any x,…
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Is ‘Monkey Pox’ Racist?
Substack latest. Short, sweet, and lethal. Match grade argumentative ammo for your encounters with your leftist pals.
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Left, Right, Gender, and Sex
There is nothing in the graphic below to disagree with, although more could be said. But one quibble: The correct word is not 'gender,' but 'sex.' Gender is a grammatical category first and foremost. But it is not unreasonable to allow a widening of the term to cover certain social roles that one's sex fits…
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Why are Women ‘Over-Represented’ among Realtors?
Here is my Substack answer to the title question together with a healthy serving of conceptual analysis as part of my ongoing quest to disembarrass sad wokeheads and Dementocrats of their fatuities, fallacies, and overall intellectual feculence. ('Feculence' as you may know is from feces.) I am being polite. I am showing some 'class.' But…
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Word of the Day: Cack-Handed
Substack latest. Short. Entertaining. Makes important points about language and male-female relations. Improve your vocabulary. Read it! Leftists, especially those of the 'woke'-Orwellian stripe, do not want you to have a large vocabulary. They do not want you to be able to think in a nuanced manner.
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I Know My Limits
I know my limits, but I also know that I have limits that I don't know. Complete self-knowledge would require both knowledge of my known limits and knowledge of my unknown limits. Complete self-knowledge, therefore, is impossible. (Note how 'I' is used above. It is not being used as the first-person singular pronoun. It is…
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On ‘Stuff’ and ‘Ass’
A Substack language rant. Excerpt: 'Ass' is another word gaining a currency that is already excessive. One wonders how far it will go. Will 'ass' become an all-purpose synecdoche? Run your ass off, work your ass to the bone, get your ass out of here . . . ask a girl's father for her ass in…
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The Orwellian Abuse of Approbatives: ‘Democracy’
An approbative word or phrase is one the conventional use of which indicates an approving or appreciative attitude on the part of the speaker or writer. The opposite is a pejorative. 'Democracy' and 'racism' as currently used in the USA and elsewhere in the Anglosphere are examples of the former and the latter respectively. If…
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‘Infra Dig’
Can you dig it? Substack latest.