Writing in BBC News Magazine, Matthew Engel worries that American idioms are ruining the Mother Tongue. He must’ve touched a nerve: thousands responded to the July 13 article, and a list of the 50 most irritating examples was published yesterday.
He’s partly right, I suppose. I mean, there are few things more vile than the phrase “it is what it is.” Unless, of course, it’s the use of “ask” as a noun. (Are you reading this, CK?)
This will likely be the lamest movie review anyone’s ever written—or read, for that matter. But I’m giving it a shot anyway.
Here it is: Go see The Tree of Life before it leaves Spokane theaters.
That’s it. Don’t ask me why I’m recommending it. (I’m not even sure I understand it.) Don’t ask me for an analysis of the plot, a critique of the acting, or a comment on director Terrence Malick’s script. Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to begin.
Just go see it.
This just in: Borders is on the verge of closing all 399 of its stores. From the short article: “In a statement, Borders President Mike Edwards said the changing book industry and the economy hastened the chain’s demise.”
Um, Mike? Do you think it might’ve been the $18 CDs and $40 DVDs that did you in? Just wondering.
It’s a bit sad, really. For a while there, Spokane actually had a store with a decent selection of jazz albums, not to mention some respectable classical choices. As for the books…meh. Around here, it’s tough to beat Auntie’s.
Depends on whether you have a Y chromosome, apparently. More here.
We’re not exactly Francophiles here at the last word, preferring Philip Roth over Michel Houellebecq, Leszek Kolakowski over Jacques Derrida, and Dick’s fries over pommes frites. But hey, it’s a holiday.
So let’s celebrate! Here’s Poème Électronique by Edgard Varèse:
[audio:https://helveticka.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/06-Poème-Électronique.mp3|titles=06 Poème Électronique]If you’re not outraged, you haven’t seen this—in which we read that, in yet another step on the long march toward barbarism, the University of Oxford has forsworn its namesake comma in the school’s branding and communications materials.
Hey Oxford: Go soak your head. Servabo fidem!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kniMjb–Ids&feature=youtu.be
But wait—there’s more…
If you thought Jackson Pollock’s painting technique was simply a matter of him “wiggling his hand in a sinusoidal way,” well…you’re wrong.
It’s hard to look at this without remembering John Derbyshire’s observation that “stereotypes are, in fact, merely one aspect of the mind’s ability to make generalizations, without which science and mathematics, not to mention much of everyday life, would be impossible.”
Check out a larger version here.
If you’re looking for a job, EWU has an opening for a GetLit! Festival Program Coordinator. You’ll need a bachelor’s degree, of course—because clearly you can’t coordinate a festival without having attended four-plus years of college (for which EWU, one of the more affordable options, charges over $6,000 a year for tuition alone).
Oh, and your degree can be in “any field.” Like, say, dental hygiene. Or gender studies. Or music.
I thought of this as I read an exchange between an adjunct philosophy instructor in New York and a person who writes college papers for money.
I think that the system, grading in general, grading as a gold standard of employability, college as the necessary step between high school and employment, all of these things alone aren’t necessarily wrong. But when you get them all together in this network, and college is going to define your future…you need that paper that says, “Diploma,” which means you need to pass. That’s all that matters.
By the way, the University of Washington will be raising tuition 20% next year.
You won’t find the answer at the last word. Instead, shoot on over to the Scientific American’s Guest Blog to see how Nobel laureates turn a phrase. Like this one, from biological researcher Elizabeth Blackburn:
The results described in this paper show that at each end of the palindromic, extra-chromosomal rDNA molecules there is a tandemly repeating hexanucleotide sequence.
That there’s some writin’.
I’d have bet money that Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” would easily destroy the competition, but apparently science has confirmed that the most annoying sound ever is…whining. Remarkably, the Boys from New Jersey couldn’t even crack the top 10.
I spent last Friday checking out a small portion of the Columbia Plateau Trail with my son Jake.
From the Cheney trailhead, we walked to Turnbull NWR, where we watched and listened to what must have been about 20,000 species of birds, give or take a thousand.
It’s a well-maintained trail system, with multiple entry points, clean restrooms, water stations, and easy access for all manner of people. And, of course, signs like this:
Regular readers of the last word will no doubt recognize the comma splice, which we’ve covered here, here, and, most recently, here.
Am I surprised? Not really. It’s stuff like this—from no less an authority than the state government, presumably—that perpetuates illiteracy. What really boggles the mind is that at no point during the process of writing, designing, fabricating, and installing these signs did someone stop, scratch his head, and say, “Wait a sec—that’s not right.”
C’mon, Washington State Parks. You’re better than this. Aren’t you?
Johann Hari has some thoughts on e-readers that we hadn’t considered in our June 14 post.
He’s not opposed to e-books in principal. But the more they’re capable of doing, he says, the less they’re able to preserve those aspects of dead-tree books that we actually need.
“The object needs to remain dull,” Hari writes, “so the words – offering you the most electric sensation of all: insight into another person’s internal life – can sing.”
Sounds downright reactionary.
Fancy the good old days when the swastika didn‘t symbolize a murderous regime? Looking forward to joining others in welcoming the return of our alien-scientist creators?
World Swastika Rehabilitation Day (WOSRED) will be celebrated on June 26 through marches and informative events worldwide, according to a statement released this morning by the International Raelian Movement (IRM).
Nearly twenty cities—Vancouver, BC among them—are preparing for the “hundreds, or, hopefully, thousands of people” arriving to participate in marches and informative events.
“The goal is to return the swastika’s true meaning of peace and harmony to this ancient symbol regretfully hijacked by the Nazis,” said Brigitte Boisselier, Ph.D., IRM spokesperson.
You don’t say? And where did this ancient symbol come from, Brigitte?
“It’s part of the symbol given to us by the human scientists from another planet who created us, the Elohim – those who are at the origin of all religions.…Already in 1973, the Elohim were telling us that there is no beginning to an infinite universe, and this concept of infinity is essential to grasp before we can continue to advance scientifically from where we are now. By promoting the swastika, we’re actually helping the world scientists who have a few minutes to share with us. They need to make this major paradigm shift to progress!”