tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57192792011-12-26T06:00:16.032-05:00Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.comBlogger1811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-60273046403364301242010-04-28T13:11:00.000-04:002010-04-28T13:25:31.396-04:00

NYTimes.com has a pretty touching article this morning about linguistic research in New York City.Many small immigrant groups there are the largest speech communities remaining for their rare languages. Linguists are combing these enclaves and recording the speech of some of the last surviving users of dozens of languages.It was an interesting thought experiment for me to wonder what it would be

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-46397754270400147462010-04-20T16:20:00.001-04:002010-04-20T18:13:59.761-04:00

The internet is abuzz this 4/20 with stories of high-class weed smoking promotional events in California and college pot heads run amok.But HuffingtonPost has a great article, claiming to tell the 'true story' of the origin of the term that connects pot smoking to April 20, and 4:20pm.While I, like many people, always thought that 420 was a reference to the police code for the crime of smoking

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-64619121543380158002010-04-07T13:27:00.004-04:002010-04-07T13:41:17.144-04:00

Well, I am really torn about this one.Mattel has announced that the new Scrabble rules, out in July, will allow ... sigh... proper nouns. On the one hand, change is inevitable, and I'm generally in favor of increased laxity in prescriptive grammar rules. On the other hand, as I've written before, Scrabble is a game, and as such, has to have an arbitrary set of rules designed to govern it in the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-48658550861207500602010-03-18T17:54:00.002-04:002010-03-18T17:54:00.231-04:00

I was just directed to a hilarious post over at 'And I am Not Lying', called 'Types of Bitches', about a list written by third graders at an inner-city Washington DC school, detailing almost 100 types of bitches.I'm blown away by the ingenuity of whoever wrote this. No way I could come up with that many types of bitches (or most things, for that matter) if I needed to. Clearly, these are kids who

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-69313299458751531732010-03-04T07:54:00.001-05:002010-03-04T14:29:37.502-05:00

Slate is running a really nice series of articles about signage this week.Road signs are one of the, well, sign systems that got invented usage started, so I'm excited to see them examined in depth.The first part in the series discusses the guy at left, who dressed up as a Caltrans worker and posted his own interstate sign because he was so fed up with the poor signage.The second part provides an

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-62642645029635242452010-03-03T08:04:00.003-05:002010-03-03T23:14:49.796-05:00

Not sure how excited to be about this, but I suppose, if invented usage celebrates any day, it should celebrate National Grammar Day.It's certainly nice to see that the usage blog community is alive and well -- I found out via twitter about this grammar limerick contest.I'm entertained enough that I will participate by pretending it's about cognitive grammar, and maybe grammatology, rather than

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-23859502674304818482009-12-18T20:03:00.004-05:002009-12-21T18:10:04.232-05:00

"Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a song composed by Adriano Celentano, and performed by Celentano and Raffaella Carrà. It was first released as a single on November 3, 1972, later also on his album Nostalrock. The lyrics are pure gibberish, intended to sound like American English as heard by a non English-speaker. In an interview, Celentano explains that the song is about "incommunicability"

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-77259918677177958882009-12-15T13:27:00.004-05:002009-12-21T18:11:38.159-05:00

Given the recent attention that Cristi has given to the Great Apple / Microsoft Ad War of 2009, I thought I'd call some attention to some ads that have escaped our Yankee eyes. No doubt, anyone with access to a television is keenly aware of the Mac vs. PC ads, the ones where Justin Long heaps steaming piles of smug on that unfortunate looking and woefully out of touch PC guy. What you may not

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-60272560380453716932009-12-13T07:46:00.004-05:002009-12-21T18:11:01.753-05:00

In an interesting symmetry with my last post, the Montgomery Street BART station has been taken over by Mac ads. (Click pictures to enlarge.)Specifically, they're iPod ads, and they are standard Mac white with bright images of the product being played with, and minimal text. In fact, the only text is either 'iPod Touch' or:"The funnest iPod ever."Maybe it's my pro-mac bias coming out, but I think

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-15802224380654287852009-12-05T12:20:00.007-05:002009-12-21T18:12:43.383-05:00

You've probably noticed that Microsoft is advertising Windows 7 very heavily -- posters from this campaign have taken over the Montgomery BART station in downtown San Francisco, where I go on the way to and from work every day. (Click pictures to enlarge.)"I'm a PC" positions the PC as the computer of the people, and "Windows 7 was my idea" builds on that momentum. (Notice none of them have

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-33823622936444204192009-01-11T19:19:00.005-05:002009-12-21T18:13:23.164-05:00

first, i want to give a shout out to Jonathan and Lauren, who have been visiting San Francisco for a Linguistic Society of America conference this weekend. it's nice to be in the linguistics loop a bit, even if i'm not in the linguistics world.Lauren works for a lab in Boston labeling noun phrases for a computer language-recognition project that sounds really interesting. (she's also the only

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-55468214881429740802008-10-01T18:12:00.001-04:002009-12-21T18:15:41.668-05:00

in David Foster Wallace a great part of the american landscape of literature and language was lost. As an addendum to Scott's last post, i wanted to point out the ways DFW touched invented usage. better than Dave Eggerswhen we decided to book club on invented usage, our first (and so far, only) attempt was Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. i was still reeling from my first

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-64085637390902788362008-09-17T12:38:00.004-04:002009-12-21T18:16:18.766-05:00

David Foster Wallace left us this past weekend, and the world is a much sadder place for it. I'd first heard his name when in high school, when my most beloved teacher, Ms. Wilson, recommended his magnum opus "Infinite Jest" to me. She knew that I might find the 1,100 page novel a bit daunting, and suggested--if I didn't have the nerve--that I might as well just pick up "Girl With Curious Hair."

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-5239449516313900492008-09-14T18:15:00.004-04:002009-12-21T18:19:24.764-05:00

no sooner did i say (in my last post) that one person rarely, if ever, has the power to change language, than this lead comes out of AP: What the 'frak'? Faux curse seeping into languageNEW YORK - Lee Goldberg thinks Glen A. Larson is a genius, and not because the prolific television writer and producer gave us "Knight Rider" and "B.J. and the Bear."It was Larson who first used the faux curse

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-22539321448309164972008-06-25T23:38:00.005-04:002009-12-21T18:20:58.154-05:00

language is constantly changing. this truism has always been the foundation of this blog, but i wonder whether i've ever really written about it directly. language changes. i can't begin to think of a counter argument. who believes that it doesn't? even the most stalwart grammar nazis must admit, grudgingly, that language does change. language changes according to some predictable patterns, some

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-17944286578972527152008-05-07T22:54:00.002-04:002009-12-21T18:22:02.168-05:00

a german exchange student i hosted in high school asked me, "what does 'pretty' mean?""schoen," i said. "beautiful.""but you just said, 'it's a pretty good movie,'" she said."oh! that pretty..." and i discovered i really couldn't define what i'd meant.not only that -- i wasn't completely sure what i'd meant in the first place. did i like the movie "to a fair or moderate degree" as per the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-12811722744700266302008-05-01T17:16:00.002-04:002009-12-21T18:22:30.520-05:00

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. One Busch Place St. Louis, MO 63118 May 1, 2008 To Whom It May Concern: While enjoying one of your affordably priced, moderately quaffable beers the other day, I noticed Busch’s slogan. It read—and you’ll have to forgive my paraphrase—something along the lines of, “Refreshing as a mountain stream, smooth as its name.” With respect to the second

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-54422808326594330632008-04-02T01:04:00.008-04:002009-12-21T18:23:45.746-05:00

now that i'm working in a writing/editing setting, at some moments i get to discuss usage professionally. sometimes this is particularly interesting, since the News Editor to my Editorial Assistant is British. recently, he caught a 'mistake' in an ad. it was the sentence,that's a savings of over $400!"shouldn't it be 'that's a saving,'?" he said, very reasonably. 'why, yes,' i said, 'it probably

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-41348731496749925612008-03-11T21:00:00.001-04:002009-12-21T18:46:38.829-05:00

please slide your eyeballs on up to the top of your browser window and look at the url in your browser. language in the realm of computers is particularly interesting because of its ability to command. one writes to a computer and, by doing so, actually acts. some liken this to the ancients' belief in the mystical power of language in the form of runes or charms.the url is a particularly

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-84472059637189193452008-03-10T00:44:00.003-04:002009-12-21T18:47:26.446-05:00

Another shameless blog plug: I have recently started a new blog as a creative outlet as well: The Interrationale.Unfortunately, I don't think it is very accessible, at all, since it is essentially just place to put detailed research notes as I read up on some schools of thought that I didn't get to study in college.The result is all the clarity and cohesiveness of Western Marxist social theory

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-74035605560504981252008-03-05T23:56:00.004-05:002009-12-21T18:48:29.214-05:00

invented usage has, in more ways than one, spawned an offspring called Invented Versage (www.inversage.blogspot.com). inverse.blogspot was taken, so Invented Verses was out. No matter for the denizens of invented usage--we just make it up as we go along.as of right now, my plan is to make Invented Versage a home solely for my poems and commentary about them. i'm in a narcissistic mood about them

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-16585871074711496492008-02-21T00:33:00.003-05:002009-12-21T18:49:12.573-05:00

the notion that san francisco is an unusually friendly big city has been one of those for which i had no evidence at all until one day, on the muni ([myOO-nee]: i basically ride a trolley to work everyday--quaint, no?), i noticed this sign on the driver's cab:Information gladly given but safety requires avoiding unnecessary conversationthe first thing that struck me was, 'why is the print so

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-31043650425743549052008-02-07T01:09:00.001-05:002009-12-21T18:52:24.931-05:00

There's something rhetorically interesting going on in this, known as 'Sh!^ing around - Admiral Ackbar':It makes me think the original admiral ackbar might be the funniest thing ever created. Funny at all speeds.But perhaps it's not quite as interesting as *this* remix:These guys are just begging to be widely known on the internet:looks like one of these 'make your own corporate commercial'

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-13644570603093124922008-01-25T20:24:00.001-05:002009-12-21T18:53:33.340-05:00

as i mentioned in my last post, i've put in an application to UC Berkeley's Department of Rhetoric. gah, it just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? a bit about why i'm so ga-ga for this particular ivory tower, and what i'd do if they let me scale the walls:first, the description on the website: The Department of Rhetoric is a leading center for interdisciplinary research and teaching in the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-41447673897999826432008-01-21T23:13:00.001-05:002009-12-21T18:54:20.005-05:00

greetings, faithful reader(s). i've gone over 6 weeks without posting. i'm currently too tired to look anything up, but that may be a record.where have i been? i've been entering grown-up land! but don't worry, there's lots of language out here too.between christmas and new year's, a friend and i loaded up a u-haul and moved to san francisco. i also managed to find a real, paying job out here

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-79779155961740094472007-12-02T19:46:00.001-05:002009-12-21T18:55:15.069-05:00

I've sort of buried the hatchet. There's at least one reasonable prescriptivist out there, and she blogs here: Red Pen, Inc. I feel like I've got an evil twin. It's a cute, snarkily written blogspot website with a home-made, annotated banner. But she consistently uses capitalization. (I have too, for the last few posts. More on that later.) We exchanged a nice series of emails regarding this post

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-64461175031190410682007-11-09T20:15:00.002-05:002009-12-21T19:02:06.376-05:00

so, in my last post, i discussed the two definitions of error: grammatical or usage error ('spicket' for 'spigot') and technical speech errors ('cattleships and bruisers' for 'battleships and cruisers'). i'd like to address another, somewhat related, error issue that sprung from my thesis project on typos.speech errors follow very predictable patterns. they are totally constrained by certain

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-12361299949116315852007-10-21T18:13:00.001-04:002009-12-21T18:59:56.893-05:00

seb's recent post raises several interesting questions. the one that currently interests me most is: what is the definition of a speech error?for most of the cognitive and linguistic literature on speech errors, it's something like 'an utterance that doesn't correspond to the utterance the speaker intended to produce.' people that use this definition are generally studying instances like "

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-58001177746637350622007-10-17T10:49:00.001-04:002009-12-21T19:01:05.412-05:00

I'm too slow on my defense of a radicalized gaming agenda, but I found a website today that works hard to fight any sort of radicalized linguistic agenda.I give you:Common Errors in EnglishIt is a compilation of "errors" in the English language. It is quite impressive, covering everything from the use of "spicket" to mean "spigot" to the alleged redundancy of "cheese quesadilla."This raises a

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-47991028746195540422007-09-12T21:30:00.001-04:002009-12-21T19:03:17.760-05:00

seb makes an interesting suggestion, though i'm inclined to think he's just upset that i used the word 'sunns' in online scrabble. he suggests that "there's room for an invented usage scrabble variant." and, as usual, i'm inclined to disagree!how do i reconcile my love of scrabble with my "anarchic linguistic crusade"? very simply. scrabble is a game, and games have to have rules. the best games

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-50209152465777655152007-08-02T01:01:00.001-04:002009-12-21T19:04:07.020-05:00

at a poetry reading tonight, a short poet approached the mic and said 'let me just shortify this real fast.' later, the mc offered to 'shortify' the mic for a poet in a wheelchair (i believe she was in a wheelchair... my view of her was completely obstructed by a wall. It's possible she was also short.)anyway, the interesting thing about 'shortifying' is that it forms a minimal pair with another

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-68267120972254212572007-07-28T21:01:00.001-04:002009-12-21T19:04:58.665-05:00

a friend sent me this link to the new york times website recently. (i think it will require a sign-in, but should be free.) apparently a series of children's books is bringing the great grammar debate home to the parents of kindergarten-age kids.junie b. is the name of the back-talking trouble-making main character of the series. junie narrates the book and her kindergarten and first-grade

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-994416148057483442007-07-24T22:51:00.002-04:002009-12-21T19:09:00.787-05:00

i've had a couple of run ins with greening in recent days. espn (i've been watching a lot lately) is greening in san fransisco: an advertisement behind home plate currently says let's green this city(.com, i think)and, in route 66, where i'm currently working, the all-natural window spray i use to clean glass surfaces is called greening the cleaningin the first usage is a a standard

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-10824067731161463222007-07-13T21:41:00.001-04:002009-12-21T19:08:48.302-05:00

aave, or african american vernacular english (a.k.a. black english or ebonics) is a dialect of english most often spoken by african americans. it's often considered to be a substandard version of english, though many have argued for it to be considered a separate language or an equally accepted dialect and view its substandard status as the result of racism and prejudice.whichever side of this

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-13297636414631695842007-05-13T22:38:00.001-04:002009-12-21T19:10:24.638-05:00

one of my monikers in cyberspace, unsumupable, has stirred up an interesting controversy lately. a particular friend approves of it heartily, but comments, "shouldn't it be 'unsumableup'?" how can one be 'right' when making up a new word? how can we possibly decide? of course, linguistics might offer a solution...so, what's going on here? we have ourselves a verb, "to sum" or maybe "to sum up,"

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-59242876606165080342007-04-14T02:21:00.001-04:002009-12-22T12:53:41.899-05:00

So we get a lot of hits from google. Not surprisingly, our blog fails to answer many of these wayward searchers questions. For example, a high-degree of Invented Usage visitors seem to have some fascination with Mango, Chris Kattan's character from Saturday Night Live. In my infinite magnanimousness, I'm going to present these erstwhile readers the information they seek:(1) A one-time reader from

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-23702315028386053682007-04-12T11:53:00.002-04:002009-12-22T12:56:18.153-05:00

greetings, gentle readers! i apologize, once again, for the long hiatus. this post will give a brief preview of the fruits of the labor that has kept me from blogging ere these long weeks. my thesis about typos is nearing completion, and, believe it or not, i actually have some interesting conclusions to show for it! what follows is a synopsis of what my thesis will become over the next couple of

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-14122859018326797872007-04-10T01:44:00.001-04:002009-12-22T12:57:31.544-05:00

Hey kids. Being something of a sponge at the moment, I've been nursing a variety of ways to turn a quick buck. My latest such idea is a children's book, which--in my estimation--would be near and dear to the philosophy of Invented Usage. Currently, the project is nameless. So for now I'm referring to it as the "A-Z Kid's Book Fake Dictionary Type Thing." By now, mind you, I mean right now. If you

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-40995198320410183872007-02-21T13:50:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:01:28.403-05:00

one of my main complaints with formal stystems of syntax and semantics is that, if and when they acknowledge the importance of meaning in usage, they treat it as a concrete and knowable object. for instance, in my syntax class, we learned that a word is (presumably this means 'is stored in the brain as') an ordered triple, , consisting of x, the sound of the word; y, the syntactic category of the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-18846745021267822012007-02-14T02:31:00.002-05:002009-12-22T13:06:33.477-05:00

Alan M. Perlman, language expert, laughs in the face of the uselessness of a linguistics degree. He's a forensic linguist specially trained to help attorneys interpret the law to the semantic letter and appear as an expert witness on matters of authorship. His website says "We all leave linguistic fingerprints on everything we write. If they are there, Alan will find them."

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-70719822646375116402007-02-07T10:49:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:04:53.143-05:00

i've wondered it myself. Sadly, the world of actual linguistics has left me little time for the forum that kept me interested in linguistics when 'the establishment' wouldn't touch my sophomore butt with a ten-foot pole! (see this guy's website for even bolder rantings and his self-published play, 'cyprus,' by briggs)there are a lot of interesting posts floating around in my head, but i've got no

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-63035991907716901392007-01-19T20:46:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:05:12.741-05:00

one can never have enough blogs. so here's another.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-80361034537812401602007-01-13T15:34:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:06:17.563-05:00

i've been seeing this symbol for a few months now: |, and wondering what it is. i've mostly encountered it on facebook, and never took the time to record where it occurred (this post would be a lot better and more professional if i had).for some reason it struck me as being exceptionally meaningful. it tended to occur in photo captions, and in correspondences (like wall posts) between boyfriends

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1168303847666572382007-01-08T19:42:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:07:12.641-05:00

Hark! My newest digital project is beginning to take form as it shall for some time. Ladies and Gentlemen without a safety net: I shall now amputate. I shall now contort.Click on the gate to enter "the new digital idiocy".

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1167338498711780962006-12-28T14:02:00.002-05:002009-12-22T13:26:35.277-05:00

(note, this post probably won't make a lot of sense unless you're familiar with facebook.com, the social networking website, and the 'groups' contained therein.)it has come to my attention that there is a young breed of grammar nazis with a loud, proud presence on the facebook. a facebook search for ‘grammar’ returned 500+ hits for group names. a lot of these are grammar school reunion type

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1166924604719672172006-12-23T20:42:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:12:27.411-05:00

so, on a personal note, i'm casting about for a career. glamorous unpaid internships beckon, as does linguistics grad school. but my real passion turns out to be completely fictitious. worse than that, it's just a grammatical derivation of 'grammatology'. 'of grammatology' is one of jacques derrida's best known works; it's something like the bible (ahem!) of deconstruction. (i've never gotten

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1165876020627329782006-12-11T17:20:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:13:27.617-05:00

mike, a fellow student in my child language acquisition class, has posted an experiment (part of his final project) online... it strikes me as a fun task, and you can participate, even if you're not a child! it's about the way we learn to recognize words in speech. i won't say too much else now, or risk biasing potential subjects, but perhaps after finals, i can recruit him to say a bit about his

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1165822879151011812006-12-11T02:41:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:20:44.807-05:00

i've been sitting on this one for a while, admittedly, but there are two good reasons to be blogging about the phenomenon that is the fake dictionary genre. the first reason is that i was asked to review one called "mixtionary" by its publsiher, IDW publishing. the second is that i went to a small press book fair in manhattan last weekend (working for coral press www.coralpress.com), and

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1164438679395260492006-11-25T02:09:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:23:53.181-05:00

A moment of Zen, courtesy of analytic philosophy:"It might still be said, however, that the dependence of cow thoughts on distal cows is assymetrically dependent on their dependence on disjunctions of proximal cow projections; distal cows wouldn't evoke COW tokens but that they project proximal whiffs or glimpses or snaps or crackles or . . . well, or what? Since, after all, cow spotting can be

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1164071022831254252006-11-20T19:47:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:24:54.593-05:00

a short post:i just found this article by Steven Pinker (author of The Language Instinct). though it's a few years old now, it's a succinct and pretty introductory discussion of some of my favorite lingusitics issues.it touches on the rules/words divide (which, in the guise of overregularization made up several interesting classes in my child language acquisition class this semester), discusses

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1163352111806376532006-11-12T12:11:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:26:06.486-05:00

NEW FROM THE FRONT: The war over the appropriate way to refer gender neutrally to somebody in the third person singular wages on, but today I saw something that indicated a small victory for the Populists."John Smith added "Physicalism- or something near enough" to their favorite books."Facebook's mini-feed has adopted the singular they to refer to persons who have not specified a sex on their

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1162791329791303092006-11-06T00:35:00.001-05:002009-12-22T13:28:12.941-05:00

it doesn't exactly qualify as 'usage of the week' since it's been going on for so long, but there's this neat thing we do when we talk about addiction to things:chocoholic (this spelling is only slightly more common than 'chocaholic' according to google. both are domain names, but chocoholic.com is much fancier.)workaholicreadaholicfunaholicballaholicreally, whatever-you-like-aholic. so we seem

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1161743116792849392006-10-24T22:08:00.001-04:002009-12-22T13:30:46.004-05:00

the identity property is pretty central to a lot of endeavors. if there's one thing our logical proofs, self-congratulatory objectivism and philosophical arguments rest on, it's the fact that "A is A."of course, this is a perfect example of why traditional logical assumptions and standards shouldn't be applied wholesale to the study of language. in philosophy of language "A is A" is the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1160765325538434622006-10-13T14:48:00.001-04:002009-12-22T13:40:31.797-05:00

today in sociolinguistics, we had a discussion about 'markedness.' the term originated with the prague school of linguistics (generally associated with the structuralist movement), but it seems to parallel useful concepts found in post-structuralist theory. let's explore!according to the wikipedia article, the linguistic concept of markedness originally referred to certain phonemes that had

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1159336629766712352006-09-27T01:12:00.001-04:002009-12-22T13:58:27.775-05:00

which is the name of the book i was invited to review by the cambridge university press (!), applies to pretty much anything at one time or another. its authors, kate burridge and keith allan, do an admirable job of acknowledging this and the role of context in discourse. unfortunately, they do a fairly poor job of a few other things.i'd also like to point out that on the back of my advanced copy

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1158011366892448702006-09-11T17:49:00.001-04:002009-12-22T14:53:09.797-05:00

just got this link from a friend, who apparently thought it had my name on it:how to write and speak postmodernit's an excellent crash course in how to be a jerk.but, as another friend says, if anyone can get any mileage out of this, it's invented usage. so i'll just say that postmodernism (poststructuralism, too) gets a bad rap for being so convoluted and buzz-wordy. but these phrases (and the

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1157494773604208582006-09-05T17:58:00.001-04:002009-12-22T16:23:19.781-05:00

i've only recently discovered the world of constructed languages (or 'conlangs' if you're in the know). a constructed language differs from a natural language (natlang) because it is designed by a person or people, rather than evolving as natlangs do.esperanto is perhaps the most famous conlang. it was developed for international communication in the hopes of fostering peace. wikipedia estimates

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1156713364839825362006-08-27T16:31:00.001-04:002009-12-22T18:07:22.363-05:00

it's only somewhat related to our recent milestone, but we've been getting more and more traffic from search engines as our size and internet notoriety has grown.recently, we've been hit by searches for "exclusionary tactics," "language is use wittgenstein," "deconstruction (use of language)," "anymore usage," "cheetah template trailing comma," "poet wag," "when was the word snot invented," "

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1156665657072902242006-08-27T03:59:00.002-04:002009-12-22T18:55:15.060-05:00

I would just like to congratulate myself as being the 10,001 visitor to Invented Usage! Whoever got the distinction of being 10,000, screw you because my number is a palindrome.Anyway, it's been a great year plus. Hopefully, we're well on our way to 100,001.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1156540142522250042006-08-25T16:50:00.001-04:002009-12-22T18:56:21.752-05:00

The other day I found myself in William and Mary's bookstore which is basically a Barnes and Noble with a textbook section in the basement. Being a college graduate now, I was curious about what books they are making the poor children read in English classes at the prestigious Virgina college. It wasn't but two years ago that I did the same thing and found a copy of Charles Simic's "The World

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1155969092671532312006-08-19T01:29:00.001-04:002009-12-22T18:57:31.502-05:00

apparati?so, even though i haven't done any research yet, i feel pretty comfortable hypothesizing that the layout of the keyboard is one factor in determining how language (text, in this case) is produced. it not only structures how we're able to create text on a computer, it has also irrevocably changed how language is changing. that is, in some circles 'teh' is a word with its own meaning. '!!!

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1155412704403017122006-08-12T15:46:00.001-04:002009-12-22T18:58:37.013-05:00

i'm so excited! forgive me if my fast tyoing leads to a few errors now and again...iit's official! i'm starting an indepeendent study on typos. a lot of luinguistics research is done on the nature of speech errors, anbd they reveal a lot about the way we store, retrieve, and rpcoscess speech. but it's only recently that typing has become an isntantaneous form of communication. this raisse all

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1155092470392755832006-08-08T22:47:00.001-04:002009-12-22T18:59:44.371-05:00

Sorry to lower the intellectual bar, but if there is anybody who can get any mileage out of this comic, it's Invented Usage!In general, qwantz is superb. God: "THAT"S THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS EVER SAID THAT"T-Rex: "Seriously? Does that mean I get into heaven FOR FREE?"God: "HONESTLY - IT HELPS"That should be our motto, in dialog(ue) form.Now, there is much to discuss: The viability of T-Rex's

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1154367099635896722006-07-31T11:36:00.001-04:002009-12-22T19:00:49.121-05:00

i already devoted a whole post to this article by David Foster Wallace, which appeared in Harper's. as satisfying as writing that was, there is one point, one essential metaphor of Wallace's text, that deserves even more attention.writes wallace: "A fellow SNOOT I know likes to say that listening to most people's English feels like watching somebody use a Stradivarius to pound nails."a wildly

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1154030829267082612006-07-27T13:51:00.001-04:002009-12-22T19:11:18.297-05:00

at issue is this article by David Foster Wallace (who i typically like and agree with). it's quite lengthy but well worth the read; Wallace is a very interesting writer and the topic is the politics of usage and dictionary-making. what could be more at home here on invented usage? there's a lot here i'd like to talk about and argue with, but i'll try to focus.the article, which appeared in

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1153884965749022762006-07-25T22:17:00.001-04:002009-12-22T20:54:52.440-05:00

here's a version of the semiotic triangle from seb's last post:it was made famous by ogden & richards in a 1923 book known as 'the meaning of meaning.' it's important to note that the line along the bottom is dashed and labeled 'an imputed relation,' since symbols can only refer to objects (referents, that which is referred to) through a concept or thought.here's how ferdinand de saussure,

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1153110664318640872006-07-17T00:24:00.001-04:002010-05-07T20:09:54.753-04:00

Discuss.

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1152312957697279742006-07-07T18:55:00.001-04:002010-05-14T13:49:36.746-04:00

A quick link:http://www.secrettechnology.com/commercial/comvid.htmMore about this later after I have some time to putz around with it.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1152283090097617172006-07-07T10:37:00.001-04:002010-05-14T13:50:51.925-04:00

Bonus! today's invented usage is actually a whole pattern of word formation!when a friend of mine looked up some other word on urban dictionary, she stumbled across 'mugly,' and was immediately able to figure out its etymology. (we guessed 'mother-fucking ugly,' but the site also lists 'mad ugly,' 'monkey-ugly' and 'man ugly.') at any rate, these formations all have something in common. they all

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1151514491455723742006-06-28T09:55:00.003-04:002010-05-14T13:52:35.496-04:00

such a vegetable, in fact, that people frequently have to remind each other that it's 'actually' a fruit. these are often the same people who like to correct grammar mistakes in conversation:Me and Bob are going to add some tomatoes and other vegetables to the pasta.You know tomato is actually a fruit. And I think you mean 'Bob and I.'Oh, then you must not have meant to start a sentence with a

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1150869441504880322006-06-21T01:30:00.001-04:002010-05-14T13:54:11.422-04:00

Well, it turns out I'm not cloud nutzo after all. A quick scan of google hits for "viewn" revealed that there are other speakers/writers out there who ride the 'viewn' train.Take this website for example. You'll see a lovely picture and a usage of "viewn". Now, what's interesting to note in this example is that the usage appears to be from a native german english speaker (note the ".de" extension

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1150827417004410392006-06-20T13:34:00.001-04:002010-05-14T13:55:38.738-04:00

(Note made some slight alterations and additions since first posting -SK)By which I mean background chatter, like the chatter Al Qaida is so fond of. To diverge for a minute and if you'll make this leap with me, the chatter is part of the world wide 'walla' or at the very least a large portion of the US's 'walla'. Background noise is so important especially in a culture fueled by the notion/

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1150474330664050682006-06-16T11:43:00.000-04:002006-06-17T10:06:27.260-04:00

getting a head-start on planning my fourth-of-july menu, i looked up 'deviled eggs' (or is it 'devilled'?) on Cooks.com today, and i found a recipe that ended with this gem of an invented usage:Walla - deviled eggs!recipes on cooks.com are submitted by individual cooks, and 'walla' is certainly an easy leap from the american pronunciation of the french-loaned 'voila' - a pretty good phonetic

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1149903474863074442006-06-09T17:02:00.001-04:002010-05-14T14:07:13.045-04:00

let me briefly and profusely apologize for our extended absence. the last month or so has been filled with vacations, moving, job hunts, comments on my last post, and so on. enough with this 'sorry' blather! on to language...speaking of jobs, i'm spending the summer as a research assistant in a cog sci lab. i'm helping write/assess a government adult literacy and vocabulary test. that's right!

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1147802779775733622006-05-15T19:56:00.001-04:002010-05-07T20:12:07.802-04:00

since handing in my paper for 'metaphor and thought' today, i've been able to finally formulate my own metaphor for the great divide in the philosophy of language that's been bouncing around in my head since i watched that 'elegant universe' documentary.first there was the newtonian theory of physics, which was fairly over-simplified and deterministic. then (to over-simplify a bit myself), along

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1147462531021709662006-05-12T15:33:00.001-04:002010-05-14T14:05:29.594-04:00

Hey folks! I've got a new version of the keats machine online for you to try. This one uses the entire poem as its word bank, and allows you to create your own poems with the scrambled lines. It's still not 100% done, but it's probably 75-80.Please, go on and check it out, and leave your comments here.The New Keats Machine(It's the 2nd link from the top)

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1147214800474481452006-05-09T18:44:00.001-04:002010-05-14T15:47:36.140-04:00

I would like to formally second cristi's post about our birthday. It's awesome! One year and 106 posts later... Just genius!We love you guys. Keep reading and we'll keep writing. Actually, if you stopped reading we'd probably keep writing anyway.To Invented Usage and blog for all seasons and a waste of time for all reasons!

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1147210024391616632006-05-09T17:17:00.001-04:002010-05-14T15:48:15.832-04:00

laughing in the face of the ridiculously high blog infant mortality rate, Invented Usage is celebrating its first birthday today!we'd like to thank our approximately 11 faithful readers and 20 daily random readers who've given us the motivation to keep going through midterms, finals, writers block and many other obstacles that keep lesser blogs down.in addition, we invite you to visit our May

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1146933483007077002006-05-06T12:21:00.001-04:002010-05-14T15:48:53.616-04:00

I LOVE this book. Semantics and the Body by Horst Ruthrof is the missing link between post-structuralism and linguistics that I've been waiting for.The author briefly summarizes the history of philosophy of language before really delving into the nitty-gritty of why traditional formal semantics can't handle essential things like negation and metaphor. It's clear he knows his stuff.While he

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1146161325277072362006-04-27T14:06:00.000-04:002006-04-27T14:08:45.293-04:00

I've started working on another flash project. It's called "The Keats Machine". Simply, it's a slot machine whose jackpot is "truth is beauty, beauty truth"... However, it's an unlikely jackpot, and the other combinations of words it comes up with are bizarre and, potentially, more fun to discover.So, if you have the time, go take a look at it. It's still very rough, and I'm probably going to

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1146002990202581242006-04-25T17:23:00.000-04:002006-04-25T18:09:50.293-04:00

today in syntax, we began talking about 'extraction,' a process for moving parts of sentences out of lower clauses and (in the pertinent case) to the beginning. this is known as 'topicalization.' it's used in certain instances of discourse to signify the centrality of a certain part of the sentence:'he promised to fly' 'fly he did!' here 'fly' has been moved from its normal position at the end of

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1145730244555099522006-04-22T12:45:00.000-04:002006-04-22T14:24:49.356-04:00

Once upon a time, I posted this classic: On Like Usage, which briefly shot Invented Usage to the top of search engine results everywhere and sparked a most interesting debate about the meaning and usage of "like." As I draw close to the conclusion of my first actual syntax class, I have a few more tools with which to discuss 'like' and why it illustrates a challenge to the contemporary study of

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1144744534515077172006-04-11T04:33:00.000-04:002006-04-11T16:57:30.250-04:00

After much work last week, my flash project is finished. If you want to take a look it's pretty simple. A grid of letters each containing a sound. Two words per grid spot forming words reading left to right and top to bottom.THE PROJECTPLEASE! Leave me comments and let me know what you think.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1142895737618229862006-03-20T17:49:00.000-05:002006-03-20T18:02:17.683-05:00

after a recent episode of sleep walking around the dorm, there's been a lot of cause for people to use the past participle of 'to sleep walk.' The past participle is apparently NOT 'sleep walked,' but 'slept walked,' or 'slep walked.' this phenomena is VERY wide-spread around here. I'd estimate at least a dozen people have understood and used these forms in the last few days.no observed forms so

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1142459935026191802006-03-15T16:44:00.000-05:002006-03-15T16:58:55.103-05:00

what if i don't hate model theoretic semantics as much as i once thought? categorial grammar, as i shakily understand it, goes a little something like this: sentences can be broken down into sytactic constituents, and those pieces can be broken down (into words, say). Each constituent, though, say 'to the store' has meaning that is constant over most of that constituent's appearances in other

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1141347277983130812006-03-02T12:39:00.000-05:002006-03-05T12:17:09.700-05:00

there are a lot of things syntax can't account for without reference to semantics. so in syntax class, we're learning that each 'linguistic expression' is an ordered triple consisting of a pronunciation, a syntactic structure, and a semantic meaning. simple! then we just add them together in some certain way, and we can explain how larger linguistic expressions are formed. some notes on semantics

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1140672162881309762006-02-23T00:16:00.000-05:002006-02-23T00:22:42.880-05:00

Please, PLEASE,go to your local comics agent and purchase the first two volumes of Alan Moore's SWAMP THING graphic novel, "THE SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING" and "LOVE AND DEATH" Supposing there's some group of you, oh, I don't know who, out there at the same college or university, you could split the cost 3-ways! Or more!This is mostly a favor to yourselves. The issue with the little Walt Kelly "

gwodderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413783670452931743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1140661144328992742006-02-22T19:33:00.000-05:002006-02-22T21:19:04.396-05:00

it's a sign of education and culture to be able to pronounce foreign words with the 'proper' accent. i always pause when ordering a wrap: should i pronounce 'boursin' as 'boor-sin' (the americanized way), or 'boor-s[highly nasalized I]' (the french way)? i usually opt for 'cheese spread'. ditto for croissant. but you'll never hear a professor pronounce the t in 'Foucault.' we need to know they

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1140587530272293002006-02-22T00:23:00.000-05:002006-02-22T00:52:10.360-05:00

I just regained partial custody of my Oxford English Dictionary so I think the fun can begin.I'm going to start here an expedition after the meaty core of the word 'recognize' which can likely be stretched out forever. Suggest you all join me. Re-Cognize :The most common use of this word, I think, is in the sense of"to perceive to be identical with something previously known"or even more

gwodderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413783670452931743noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1139441271892141342006-02-08T18:04:00.000-05:002006-02-08T18:27:51.963-05:00

i finally got around to taking a syntax class, so of course i'm hearing all kinds of fun terms like 'recursion'. i wonder if anyone out there in blogland has heard of this invented usage: Recurz. as in: "If you define a verb phrase that way, then this rule can't recurz."it seems to be a back-formation from 'recursion' and distinct from the more conventional usage. 'recurs,' i suppose, should be a

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1138769386965314682006-01-31T23:45:00.000-05:002006-01-31T23:49:46.976-05:00

Those friggen monkeys are at it again! Check out the link and learn about how monkeys, apparently, 'vote' for policeman of their communities. Not sure what to make of this at this point, but since we're all in love with 'language' and 'signaling', this layman science should provide some useful diversions. C'est non?

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1138251645544804812006-01-25T23:38:00.000-05:002006-01-26T00:01:20.296-05:00

Looking through the languages that a friend and I are familiar with (and hungry for exceptions), we found no instance except in English of the practice of using the word for 'determination' or 'strength of purpose' to establish referral to future events.As in "The Stock Market will collapse."or "I will try harder next time."Constructions like "have been" are reasonably common but what is this

gwodderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11413783670452931743noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1137354405626937792006-01-15T14:30:00.000-05:002006-01-15T14:46:45.736-05:00

fred responds to certain vocal inflections, particularly high-pitched ones. He also reacts predictably (ashamedly) to a certain 'angry' tone. fred also responds predictably to certain strings of phonemes. Prominent examples are 'cookie', and 'fred'. Fortunately, fred is illiterate, so 'c-o-o-k-i-e' does not induce the same reaction. fred and i often achieve coordination of action. If i want him

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1137029897174097452006-01-11T19:39:00.000-05:002006-01-11T20:38:17.256-05:00

Last semester, in Advanced Poetry Writing, my professor Michael S. Harper spoke several times that the use of written or typewritten letters (as in, epistles) are dying out. And for him, this change is tragic. Authors' letters have been collected and printed in books for thousands of years. (For example, I believe the letters of famous Roman orator Cicero were collected and published soon

Joshuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07601195507143038929noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1137023017335583462006-01-11T18:29:00.000-05:002006-01-11T18:44:33.303-05:00

i promised i'd try to convince seb that we're not as different as he would like to believe. the following are excerpts from my final paper from philosophy of language last semester. the topic? vagueness, of course. "Discussions of vagueness frequently begin by introducing sorites problems, and the challenge they pose to classical logic... On first glance, one might argue that logic is unequipped

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1136744630711376542006-01-08T13:11:00.000-05:002006-01-08T13:39:13.036-05:00

'Tis I, Seb. Hijacker. Fly hacker. Snidely Whiplash to Scott and Cristi's Dudley Do-Right. Or, more appropriately, the Murky Dismal to their Rainbow Brite (and those meddling Color Kids), as I attempt to wield science, analytic philosophy, and historical power dynamics to rid the world of all that is colorful and beautiful--art, the primacy of language, the culturally constructed, and (plot

Sebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10513430642013001336noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1136243314667777402006-01-02T17:27:00.000-05:002006-01-02T18:08:34.713-05:00

everyone loves to bash BF Skinner. Scratch that, in philosophy and the cognitive sciences, no one even talks about behaviorism. usually our only exposure to it is as the missing link between the advent of modern psychological thought and the glorious revolution of noam chomsky. in the philosophy of language class scott and i took last semester, i approached the professor about writing my term

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1135807630946259262005-12-28T17:03:00.000-05:002005-12-28T17:09:23.900-05:00

An excerpt from my paper on Robert Creeley:A consideration of Robert Creeley’s poetics must account for this. Although later in life, Creeley was to abandon the heavy emphasis he usually placed upon the ends of lines, they could only be excised so much as they weren’t literally written into the poem. They are, in fact, an inseparable part of most of his poems. Creeley’s lines are usually heavily

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1135768507014662302005-12-28T06:07:00.000-05:002005-12-28T06:15:07.026-05:00

You, also, by extension. A random note worth adding to the dialogue here on Invented Usage. Admittedly this dialogue has been a little slow coming lately, but -- as cristi says -- it should be more frequent given the "home" situation. Did anyone mention that Cristi will be Managing Editing the College Hill Independent next semester? Congratulations, Cristi. I'm proud of you.To poetry. That

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18299970053622180647noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5719279.post-1135734977462624892005-12-27T20:29:00.000-05:002005-12-27T20:56:17.536-05:00

haha, just kidding. vagueness poses a critical problem for many branches of language theory. but, after writing a paper on it, and losing a lot of sleep over it, here are my thoughts on vagueness:1. vagueness is an essential part of the functioning of language. no two objects are precisely the same, so for a word to apply to many similar objects immediately requires vagueness. without vague (and

Cristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09794033331046211307noreply@blogger.com0