A couple of months ago I noticed a new sign on the side of the road in a small town which I frequently visit. Having no idea what the sign meant or what a "Jake Brake is, I asked my… Read More

there-insertion A term used in transformational grammar for a transformation which relates pairs of sentences by inserting a there-element, such as A baby is in the bath -There is a baby in the bath. The latter type of sentence… Read More

Ever hear two people arguing and then someone dismisses their differences like this: “Well, that’s just semantics”? What the person means by that is the difference boils down to “just” a difference in the meaning of the words. In other… Read More

One of my sons recently purchased comedian Demetri Martin's book, "This is a Book". As I was flipping through it, I noticed that Demetri Martin appears to have a true appreciation for the many aspects of language and how they… Read More

The category: WHO THE "H" ARE YOU?The $2000 clue: This Japanese-American professor of linguistics was a California senator from 1977 to 1983.The answer: S.I. Hayakawa Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was an important figure in… Read More

The Semantic Web says Tim Berners-Lee, the man who coined the is “a web of data that can be processed directly and indirectly by machines.” Perhaps more helpfully, it comprises “methods and technologies to allow machines to understand the meaning… Read More

My friend Tim Brownson victoriously and proudly holds credit for being the first person ever to crack the James-gender code (and live to tell about it). Not a guess, not a hunch, not a niggling suspicion. A full-blown, firmly-declared, confident … Read More

I’ve seen a lot of buzz for blogger outreach lately. Next to social media marketing strategy development, it’s the number one social media offering for public relations agencies (and driving much of the increase in PR spending this year). Is… Read More

It looks like CNN credulously spit out another story from Global Language Monitor (GLM). Basically, GLM did their usual thing of running a speech (in this case, Obama’s oil spill speech from mid-June) through some mindless statistics, getting out the… Read More

Regular readers may know that I am a major proponent of the Slower Traffic Keep Right campaign. I actually have the windshield decal pictured below (though I have decided not to use it as I do not want to draw… Read More

In The Semantics of Slower Traffic, I posted about a semantically-challenged sub-set of automobile drivers who have a problem defining the word "slower" - particularly when it comes to the following sign.I just received an e-mail with this brilliant photo-shopped… Read More

1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.2. A will is a dead giveaway.3. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.4. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.5. You are stuck… Read More

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A man boarded an aircraft at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 for New York, and taking his seat as he settled in, he noticed a very beautiful woman boarding the plane. He realised she was heading straight toward his seat… Read More

While the following article isn't exactly related to linguistics, I have previously posted about the semantics of slower traffic and the article does an excellent job of explaining why driving too slow can be dangerous.Here is the article as it… Read More

While the following article isn't exactly related to linguistics, I have previously posted about the semantics of slower traffic and the article does an excellent job of explaining why driving too slow can be dangerous.Here is the article as it… Read More

// The vast majority of freelance writers are self-employed and the sole employee of their business. Many of those freelance writing businesses don’t really even see themselves so much as a business, but as a writer who works for someone… Read More

From Toothpaste for Dinner… Read More

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Following is a reader's comment on a recent post about paraprosdokians.I've always loved gags like this -- "I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my father, not screaming and terrified like his passengers." — Bob Monkhouse I … Read More