(UPDATE — 8-31-2014: I mentioned while writing this series of posts that I was revising my Civil War novel at the time and was watching this miniseries for atmosphere. That novel I was revising is Hagridden, and it’s out now from Columbus Press. If you like this miniseries, you might like that novel. Click here for moreContinue reading “Hatfields & McCoys & scapegoats & baptisms”
Category Archives: language
Photo blog 83
“Oh, how my momma needs a comma.*” Punctuation art at the Jeld-Wen Field stop on the Portland MAX line, Portland, OR, 28 May 2012. My wife and I went out to the Rose Gardens in Portland for Memorial Day. On our way home, we transferred from the bus to the MAX light rail, and I spotted theseContinue reading “Photo blog 83”
Hatfields & McCoys (and play-pretties)
(UPDATE — 8-31-2014: I mentioned while writing this series of posts that I was revising my Civil War novel at the time and was watching this miniseries for atmosphere. That novel I was revising is Hagridden, and it’s out now from Columbus Press. If you like this miniseries, you might like that novel. Click here for moreContinue reading “Hatfields & McCoys (and play-pretties)”
An animated history of the English language
A friend of mine shared this video on Facebook earlier today, and it’s just so fantastically succinct and hilarious I had to post it here. It’s “The History of English in Ten Minutes”: My friend found it on a blog post at Milk And Cookies, but it’s pretty widely available. What’s particularly genius about thisContinue reading “An animated history of the English language”
大変だから日本のために思いやって下さい。Please care for Japan in this difficult time. (via Jenn in Japan)
More (and better) links and resources for helping Japan, plus a touching video from one of Jenn in Japan‘s own students. (You might cry watching it, but it’s a heartwarming clip, which is a nice change of pace — I needed to reason to smile today.) Please visit this post and click on the linksContinue reading “大変だから日本のために思いやって下さい。Please care for Japan in this difficult time. (via Jenn in Japan)”
Patrons of writing and teaching: Winnie-the-Pooh
I haven’t done a Patron of Writing in a while now, and with all the hard writing work I have ahead of me this week, I figured it was time to bring out Pooh-Bear. I’ve loved Winnie-the-Pooh since I was an infant (I still have my Pooh-Bear, faded and misshapen after all these years; myContinue reading “Patrons of writing and teaching: Winnie-the-Pooh”
Ouch!
The other day, my brother said, “I think words like ‘ouch’ are left over from the first language.” And then he dared me to weigh in. So I did. What I discovered–as is often the case when I dive into etymology–was both fascinating and surprising. For example, according to the OED, the earliest examples ofContinue reading “Ouch!”
Word nerd
A friend of mine from college posted a couple of videos on Facebook, each showing Weird Al Yankovich repairing American society’s poor grammar, and I simply had to share them here. Also, shout out to my mother-in-law, who carries a rainbow of Sharpies (clickable, so she can wield them one-handed!) in her purse in caseContinue reading “Word nerd”
The Netherlands: Intro and Days 1 & 2
As I did with my travel journal from Vienna last fall, I am going to start posting my journal from my recent trip to The Netherlands. And, like the Vienna posts, I’m going to break them up by days, partly to keep the posts (relatively) short but also to try and replicate the journal-writing experience.Continue reading “The Netherlands: Intro and Days 1 & 2”
Patrons of writing and teaching: Saraswati/Benzaiten
Saraswati is an interesting woman. As an expression of female creative energy in Hinduism, she carries a lot of power, said to act as the goddess of music and poetry, the visual arts, literature, and knowledge. All knowledge. There are varying accounts of her origins — some say she was the daughter of Brahma and Durga,Continue reading “Patrons of writing and teaching: Saraswati/Benzaiten”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 