Tag Archives: style

Memo to U.S. — Sort of How to Speak English

Posted on July 24, 2020 by JMN

Boris Johnson speaking to the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg: “We didn’t understand (the virus) in the way that we would have liked in the first few weeks and months… The single thing that we didn’t see at the beginning … Continue reading →

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Irish and Not Proud

Posted on July 20, 2020 by JMN

William James arrived penniless in Albany, NY from County Cavan, Ireland in the late 18th century. Over the next 30 years he created a fortune second only to that of the Astor family. His grandsons, novelist Henry and philosopher William, … Continue reading →

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What Makes a Poem ‘Hard’?

Posted on July 17, 2020 by JMN

“Syntax” is the answer to the fudgy question. It’s hard to reach image and reference through muddy syntax. In narrative and exposition, context comes to the rescue; in poetry often not, because a poet revels in flare-gunning lap dance moon … Continue reading →

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How It Gets Ugly

Posted on July 15, 2020 by JMN

Half a thousand academics want Steven Pinker dropped from the list of “distinguished fellows” of the Linguistic Society of America for allegedly minimizing racial and sexist injustices. Because this is a fight involving linguists, it features some expected elements: intense … Continue reading →

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A Conservative with Elite Style

Posted on July 12, 2020 by JMN

But there was one small difficulty: This hawk was no Truman or Reagan, but rather a reality-television mountebank whose real attitude toward China policy was, basically, whatever gets me re-elected works. Who has heard recently, or ever, the word “mountebank”? … Continue reading →

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Why Do Poets Ampersand?

Posted on July 12, 2020 by JMN

The poem is “Sacrament I” by Robin Gow (Poetry, March 2020). Excerpt, first stanza: & all the faucets pour oil or milk.We fill father’s bottles, the brown and green;thick glass blood cells, a throat-slit pouring silk.When will the baptisms make … Continue reading →

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What Does a Poem Teach? Fluidity

Posted on July 8, 2020 by JMN

Excerpts are from the poem “A Future History” by Suzi L. Garcia (Poetry, March 2020). A muster of peacocks show off their tails, but instead of feathers, knives. This line introduces me to “muster,” a collective noun applied to peacocks. … Continue reading →

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Manifestoid 1 of 2

Posted on June 25, 2020 by JMN

A correspondent writes: Watched the lunchtime news, it veers between positivity and warnings that leaves the head spinning and the heart pumping. In that last sentence, should it be ‘leave’ or ‘leaves’. I had ‘leaves’ because it is the veering … Continue reading →

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Alert the Media

Posted on June 22, 2020 by JMN

A TikTok celebrity hailing from Gen Z complains of being confused with millenials. “Just because you’re so old you can’t remember the difference, doesn’t mean it’s OK to lump us altogether,” she said. (Poppy Noor, “So Gen Z-ers hate millennials … Continue reading →

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Nigerian English

Posted on June 20, 2020 by JMN

Lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary have updated the dictionary with 29 Nigerian words, recognizing Nigeria’s “unique and distinctive contribution to English as a global language.” The former British colony’s 200 million people speak more than 250 languages, according to … Continue reading →

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