Tag Archives: The Week

Why motherese?

Posted on October 17, 2013 | 1 comment

My latest article for TheWeek.com is on motherese, a.k.a. infant-directed speech, a.k.a. baby talk. Specifically, does it do any good? I mean aside from making the person speaking that way feel all parental and letting them project childish enthusiasm. If that’s any good. Find out what research says… and what I think:

What’s the point of baby talk?

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Critters that say their own names – or do they?

Posted on October 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

This week is a double-header on TheWeek.com for me. The second article of mine they’re running is about birds and animals that are named after their cries – and the important differences between those names and the actual noises:

If you think these animals say their own names, you are wrong

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Of ilands, dets, and spelling reforms

Posted on October 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

My latest article for TheWeek.com is on English spelling reform – a few people who have tried it, some who succeeded, some who failed, some who succeeded but should have failed:

6 quests to fix English’s messed-up spelling

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Summa contra apostrophes

Posted on September 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

Apostrophes are an invasive species in English: imported from France to serve a specific useful purpose, but quickly getting into places they don’t belong – first mistakenly added to possessives, then spreading unbidden into plurals. English would likely be better off with no apostrophes at all than it is in the current state. Is that likely to happen? Of course not. Would a more moderate solution – say, limiting them to places where letters have actually been omitted and could be added back in – perhaps be better? Likely. But what the heck. Sometimes you just want to take the most extreme position for the sake of argument. Heh heh. Thus I present my latest article for TheWeek.com:

Kill the apostrophe!

We would all be better off without it

🙂

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Dashing around

Posted on September 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

My article this week for TheWeek.com is on dashes – the title is rather provocative, but the text is useful:

You’re using that dash wrong

To go with it, I present another poem from my book Songs of Love and Grammar:

Dashing around

My boyfriend is the dashing type.
He writes – whips off – with vim – and hype.
He goes – he comes – cycle completing –
and yet – I feel – he may be cheating.
Last week he sent a note – “Dear N –
I hope – so soon – we join – again!”
But then – missent – another too –
“Dear M—can’t wait—to meet—with you!”
From N – to M—his life’s a whirl!
He’s dashing—yes – from girl to girl!
I think I should have picked a man
with more breath & attention span.
I’ll find & marry someone bland
who’ll come & stay with ampersand.

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When I’m semicolon on you

Posted on September 4, 2013 | 2 comments

My latest article for TheWeek.com is on semicolons. Kurt Vonnegut didn’t like them; I do; I’m not alone in this; I explain. I hope you will not give it a tl;dr. 😉

In defense of the semicolon

 

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10 strange drug names

Posted on August 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

As a companion piece to my piece from last week, “How do prescription drugs get such crazy names?”, I also wrote a piece focusing on ten of the crazier generic names for prescription drugs. It’s up live now on TheWeek.com:

10 crazy prescription drug names

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The dark magic of drug generic names

Posted on August 13, 2013 | 3 comments

My latest article for TheWeek.com is about the generic names for drugs and where they come from:

How do prescription drugs get such crazy names?

Inspired by the topic, I made a video for your entertainment:

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Royal baby names

Posted on July 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

My most recent two articles for TheWeek.com have been about the British royal baby name book – a rather slim volume. The first article talks about which names have been used and which are most popular:

A brief history of royal baby names

Will and Kate’s wee one will be the seventh British king to be called George

The second talks about where those names come from and what they originally meant:

What do the names of British kings and queens actually mean?

King Wealth-Guard, Queen Bitterness, and King Desire-Helmet, for starters

 

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Maybe don’t make these sounds too much

Posted on July 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

I have heard from various people that certain speech and quasi-speech sounds can be quite irritating. Now, some of them are normal enough when used just a little here and there – it’s just their overuse or overly obtrusive use that’s the issue. Some are simple matters of taste and don’t bother some people at all. Some are probably best left undone altogether. But, just to make the point in an in-your-face and just slightly tongue-in-cheek way, I’ve titled my latest article for TheWeek.com…

10 annoying sounds you need to stop making

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