More from Andrew C. McCarthy: what’s in a name?
On “Spygate,” informants, sources, and scumbags.
Continue reading →Category Archives: Language and grammar
More racial woes at Starbucks
I thought this was some sort of joke at first, mainly because I’d never heard the word “beaner” as a slur against Mexicans: Nearly two weeks ahead of their day of nationwide racial bias training, coffee chain Starbucks is facing … Continue reading →
So which is it, Yanny or Laurel?
The latest internet craze is to listen to the audio and answer the burning question of whether you hear “Yanny” or “Laurel.” I heard “Yanny”—or rather, just to show you what a weirdo I am, I actually heard “Yammy.” Close … Continue reading →
The “Trump bump”
I’m not referring to the possible effect of Trump’s presidency on the economy, which is the way the expression has sometimes been used. I’m using it more like a sort of speed bump in the narrative—that little obligatory hiccup in … Continue reading →
I don’t think this guy has much cause for intellectual pride about being a high-level thinker
But then again, people are very strange. This is what it’s come to: Last month, a teacher at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, Calif., was captured on video telling his history class that members of the military are … Continue reading →
Update on the Hawaii nuclear false alarm
I’m not sure whether this news makes it better or worse. I think perhaps worse: The Hawaii employee who sent out a false alarm earlier this month warning of an incoming missile attack said they misheard a message played during … Continue reading →
Playing telephone: are we tired of s***holeGate yet?
I am sorely tired of it. On the other hand, it raises so many fascinating issues that it’s hard to keep from mulling it over once again. Fortunately, a lot of other people have done the legwork so I’ll link … Continue reading →
Have Trump’s critics lost their sense of humor?
David Frum certainly has: This morning’s presidential Twitter outburst recalls those words of Fredo Corleone’s in one of the most famous scenes from The Godfather series. Trump tweeted that his “two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, … Continue reading →
Speaking of refrigerators…
…and we certainly have been speaking of refrigerators lately— I read my new fridge’s manual yesterday. I was looking for instructions on how to integrate some little egg holders that came with it: where do they go? What is the … Continue reading →
Trump’s cunning
I noticed the word “cunning” in the headline of a piece by Spengler entitled “Trump’s Courage and Cunning Confound His Opponents.” He goes on to say: I can think of no politician with his combination of courage and cunning since … Continue reading →
Students, put those laptops away if you want to learn more
And take up a pen. The evidence indicates that taking notes by hand leads to more learning. The article lists reasons why this may be so: The experiment found that the students who used a laptop did not understand the … Continue reading →
“Credible” stories
In the wake of the recent spate of sexual offense allegations, “credible” and “credibly” are the latest buzzwords. Just as an example, take this Politico piece, which is by a former Bush speechwriter named Matt Latimer [emphasis mine]: In the … Continue reading →