“There are ways of releasing the soul….” (Poem)
Comments Off on “There are ways of releasing the soul….” (Poem) Category: Language
Comments Off on “There are ways of releasing the soul….” (Poem) 
When Is an Ecommerce Web Site “Unacceptably” Slow? (2012)
While reading Internet Retailer’s December 2012 profile of its chosen “Top 100” ecommerce web sites (http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/11/30/going-extra-mile), I was confused by its “Speed” ratings for the sites. Each web site was evaluated based on its page-load time, and 33 of the 100 sites were rated “unacceptable.”
The idea that many web sites succeed despite slow load times isn’t a surprise. What confused me was the scale used by Internet Retailer in assigning its speed ratings: Read more »
Word Choice: Indexes or Indices, Forums or Fora?
Comments Off on Word Choice: Indexes or Indices, Forums or Fora? I’ve recently encountered the problem of “which version of a word to use,” in my writing in this blog and elsewhere. This issue arises often with the plural forms of two words: “index” and “forum.”
Word: “Ideation” (connotation)
Comments Off on Word: “Ideation” (connotation) “Ideation.” When I saw this word on a slide during the Salesforce.com keynote presentation at cloudforce/cloudstock, it just seemed absurd. I was right, sort of.
That Didn’t Sound Right! (Hughes at 110)
Comments Off on That Didn’t Sound Right! (Hughes at 110) Earlier this month, I found myself jarred while listening to an NPR “Talk of the Nation” segment honoring the legacy of poet Langston Hughes. Host Neal Conan said, “Langston Hughes would have been 110 yesterday; he died in 1967.” (transcript).
That didn’t sound right, but it took me a few minutes to figure out why: that phrase, “[a deceased person] would have been [an age],” implies both the untimeliness of the death, and the plausibility of survival to the current day. Neither element seemed satisfied in this particular situation.
Instead, Mr. Conan should have said, “Langston Hughes was born 110 years ago yesterday.”
Apologies
Comments Off on Apologies What’s an apology? Today, I was baffled by Rick Santorum’s comments this morning on Meet the Press: Read more »
What Should I Do, When You Use “Jew” As a Verb?
At the yard sale, when you asked for a lower price, you said you were “jewing.” Later that same day, you returned to buy more stuff, and you said it again; a few days later, when you came to pick up the sofa you’d bought, you said it again.
Is Facebook Transforming Our Language?
Language is constantly evolving, but sometimes the process is hard to understand. Facebook provides a great example.
