Tag Archives: language

Spilt Pith

Posted on January 20, 2020 by

http://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/opinion/walt-whitman-nytimes-2020.html Such was [Walt] Whitman’s description of [President] Lincoln in a March 1863 letter to two New York friends. The president, wrote Whitman, had a face “like a hoosier Michael Angelo, so awful ugly it becomes beautiful, with its strange … Continue reading →

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“Pretty Ugly”

Posted on January 16, 2020 by

This tweet contrasts so starkly with the seriousness of the actual situation with Iran,” said Ben Rhodes, a former top national security aide to Mr. Obama. “We are in the midst of a roiling crisis with Iran that is largely … Continue reading →

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Therianthropes

Posted on January 12, 2020 by

In December 2017, an Indonesian archaeologist discovered a cave painting on the island of Sulawesi that dates back at least 43,900 years — “the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world.” In the story … Continue reading →

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“The Self-Defeating Rage of the Old”

Posted on January 11, 2020 by

The young people of England, like those in the rest of Britain, … understand we need liberation from the practices of Westminster and Whitehall, not Brussels, and from the self-defeating rage of the old. David Edgerton, a British historian, writes: … Continue reading →

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The Eye in Love

Posted on December 30, 2019 by

This review treats several films about gay female love. The reviewer is a film maker. Noteworthy for me is her emphasis on the ocular dimension of romantic attraction. The use of “one’s self” instead of “oneself” for the reflexive pronoun … Continue reading →

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Gallimaufry

Posted on December 29, 2019 by

Inauthentical Inadvertency Twitter and Facebook took down numerous accounts internationally for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” Twitter disclosed that “email addresses and phone numbers uploaded by users to meet its security requirements may have been ‘inadvertently’ used for advertising purposes.” Trumpical Subjunctivity … Continue reading →

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Horseback Love

Posted on December 25, 2019 by

… The queen’s addresses tend to be broad, anodyne and even a little opaque. “The problem with Yorkie [the Duke of York] is he can be very arrogant and petulant. I think that’s down to insecurity.” [Former palace official] Two … Continue reading →

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