For those of you who don't read languagelog, I just had to point out a recent entry, in which the following was related by one of their correspondents:

I was in the Children's Museum in Baltimore when I overheard this conversation between a mother and a young son, concerning a bizarre "fun house" installation, which had sloping ceilings, "wrong" furniture, ( Read more... )

I have the feeling that I've been pointed here before, but either I hadn't clicked through, or they've added a lot of material since I did. The home page isn't work safe, but most of it is fine, as long as you take care not to drink anything while you're reading it.

Elsewhere, someone was discussing the work that he and his partner are doing to improve/sustain their relationship and someone else commented that if a relationship requires work, then it may not be worth continuing. This led into a discussion of what defines "work," more generally. If you enjoy a process, is it work? If you choose to do ( Read more... )

You Should Learn Swedish
( Read more... )

I´m sitting in the computer alcove off the lobby of the Hotel Borg, starting to feel assimilated after a nice nap and a really lovely shower. They have one of those rain-heads! It´s a cool, grey, windy day, but not too bitter. I took a short walk to give my internal clock some clue of the time and found the lake a block away, filled with ( Read more... )

A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil.
- Victor Hugo, author (1802-1885)

I'm usually very good at reading comprehension and I tend to like the quotes that Anu picks for A Word A Day, but this one is mysterious (dare I say veiled?) to me. Unsatisfying? Indirect? What's indirect about a compliment?

tactilize v. to imagine how something would feel

Thank you to Language Log for pointing out, after reading this editorial in the New Yorker how disturbing it is that the Republicans keep talking about "our base" and "the conservative base" and "playing to the base." Because the Arabic translation for "the base" is "al qa'eda".

I'm looking for the word (it's one word, I've known it before, I'll recognize when I see it again) that means disruption of form by pattern, like a zebra's stripes, or certain kinds of camouflage. It's not about blending into the background, but rather breaking up the visual outline.

Anyone? Bueller?