Language
“I’m willing to tell you. I’m wanting to tell you. I’m waiting to tell you.”
George Bernard Shaw,
Pygmalion
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Elf is Back on the Shelf, Boys
After years without Elf-on-the-Shelf, I’m seeing a lot of instances of the Elf-on-the-Shelf meme scrolling down my Facebook feed this holiday season. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m feeling an impromptu session of analyze the meme! Elf-on-the-Shelf is at its core phonological. The pun doesn’t have anything to do with meaning or spelling – it…
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When Did Kids Get So Smart?
We adults think we know everything but our perspective isn’t always as perceptive as we think.
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It’s a Mariah Christmas: Why We Love to Meme During the Holidays
Mariah Carey’s tenacious cameos in memes across the internet speak to a widespread cultural gloom lying just beneath Christmas cheer. Step aside conventional conviviality, Mariah has thawed.
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Ohio’s Issue 1: Ballot Language
On November 7th Ohio citizens have the chance to make a decision about abortion rights but are we being misled?
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Ohio Abortion Bill – Explained
I recently got a propaganda flier in the mail that boldly asks “have you seen the language?” and invites us to look at their markup of the full text of Issue 1. And I took the bait! So, let’s do some informal linguistic analysis and check out both the language of the proposed amendment and…
Wherever there are people there is communication. Whether it’s through speech, gestures, or actions – everyone expresses. Language is a complex performance that can’t help but say more than we mean – yet remain Inadequate. If we’re willing, wanting, and waiting, why are our words, and their meaning so hard to pin down?
More Small Words
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Death Becomes Her: A Review
Join me in roasting this raunchy 1992 dark comedy starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis!
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You Are What You Read
Dan speed-read over 3,000 books during his life and meticulously recorded every one of them. Now he’s a social media star.
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Let’s Talk About SEX and Libraries
If you didn’t read “SEX” in a funny voice, then you don’t know me at all. Libraries are taking the heat for having explicit material on the shelves. So let’s talk about SEX, libraries, and…
Small Words 