Notes, journal, diary, blog, arguments, beliefs, cogitations, comments, considerations, contemplations, criticisms, daydreams, deliberations, engrossments, musings, opinions, phlogs, poems, points, rantings (occasional), reflections, ruminations, satire, wit, and pensiveness of a thinking man.
Posted in Internet, Language, Other Blogs, Technology, Uncategorized on Feb 19th, 2008
Apparently the Internet is killing culture, and the biggest culprit is the blog. According to one writer, I must therefore be one of the biggest criminals around, responsible for the collapse of Western civilization as we know it. It is a heavy burden of blame to bear, but somehow I manage to carry [...]
Posted in Humanity, Language, Literature, Poems on Dec 9th, 2007
I think verbs are sexy. Well, at least I find them attractive and interesting. They do exciting things. They make things happen. They are like a kind of moving or magnetic force in the language universe. Describing them as ‘doing words’ is like calling the Mona Lisa ‘a painting’ and the Sistene Chapel ‘a building’. [...]
Posted in Censorship, Education, Isolation, Language, Religion on Nov 23rd, 2007
Just imagine that you couldn’t read, or that if you could read, you only had access to a very restricted range of material. I know, the pain of not being able to read this blog would be almost unbearable …
One index of a society’s health and modernity is the extent to which its members can read and write. [...]
Posted in Human Rights, Isolation, Language, Politics on Oct 12th, 2007
A case under article 301 of Turkish law against journalist Hrant Dink was recently dropped. The reason it was dropped is that Hrant was shot dead in January.
The case against Hrant was that he had allegedly insulted Turkish identity by calling the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 a genocide.
Posted in Health, Language, Technology on Oct 2nd, 2007
There is an account in English medieval records of two fishermen from Hull who had a frustrating experience. They ended up in London and went into a pub and tried to order a meal. All they wanted was a plate of eggs and potatoes. Unfortunately it took them a very long time to get served [...]
Posted in Health, Humanity, Language, Psychology, Relationships, Therapy on Sep 30th, 2007
A friend of mine was attacked last week. She, a 24 year old woman, was standing in the driveway in front of her house in the afternoon chatting to a neighbour. A 55 year old disabled woman from across the square in a middle-class suburb, came towards her shouting abuse, then grabbed hold [...]
Posted in Education, Government, Language, Philosophy on Sep 28th, 2007
I was reminded this week that there are certain words that tell us more about the speaker, than about the actual content of what is being said.
Stewart Dimmock, a school governor, truck driver, and father from Kent, is seeking a juidicial review of the UK government’s decision to send a copy of Al Gore’s documentary on [...]
Posted in Humor, Humour, Language, Society on Aug 22nd, 2007
Canute the Great, eleventh century king of England, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, was apparently a very modest man who grew tired of the flattery of some of his courtiers. When one told him that he was so great that even nature would obey him, he went to the beach and told the waves to wait, in [...]
Why is ‘island’ spelled with an ’s’?
No, this isn’t a joke question. It’s not like: “Why does ‘bath’ have a silent ‘p’?” It is a question that did used to worry me. I would often be asked it. I taught English in the UK for a number of years to school children, college students, and undergraduates, [...]
Posted in Language, Psychology, Relationships on Aug 14th, 2007
What has to happen for you to feel really loved?� Think back for a moment as to how love was expressed in the family that you grew up in.� If your parents wanted to show love to you or to family members, or to each other, what did they do?
In my family, love didn’t particularly [...]
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