The English Infiltration: "Sharing Out" @12:45 PM
In my inbox, a search of my email for "sharing out" returns six results from one PR fellow, one result for a coworker of his and one result from Dennis Kucinich. These first seven results usually go something like, "On behalf of the [name of publication], sharing out this item by [author name] "[title of piece]." OR! In a weirder one: "I'm sharing out [name's] byline she wrote for the March issue of [client] [the "client" was in their own brackets!] [name of client magazine] (on sale is Feb 20) about how [summary of topic]." This seems sort of new in American English! READ MORE 14
A Recent History of Ironic Exclamations for Chuck Klosterman @12:30 PM
Chuck Klosterman's last book, from October, has an attack on the use of the exclamation point as a marker of irony. It's making the rounds today online, since someone is reading it. Klosterman's opinion: It's "idiotic. It’s the saddest kind of failure." Klosterman is talking overall about the rhetorical practices of feigned ignorance, distancing in general and also about the most convenient punctuation markers to make things clear to the reader—though he believes these markers make things ever more unclear. At least, he approvingly quotes Fitzgerald as against exclamation points. Let's look at some recent history! READ MORE 30
Classy Conflict, with Cord Jefferson @4:56 PM
In Tucson, Arizona, people—novice hunters mostly—kill wild, stinky, tusked pigs that roam the Sonoran Desert in small packs. The name for these beasts is "javelina" (pronounced have-uh-lee-nah), and it's my favorite example of a beautiful word for an ugly thing. A girlfriend of mine once told me that, were it not a violent hog, she'd consider naming a daughter Javelina, and I didn't disagree.
"Classy" is exactly the opposite. To summon forth "classy," one must first smash his tongue against his teeth while simultaneously coughing up a hard "c." Soon enough comes the "assy," which, if spoken without due diligence, can make anyone, regardless of origin, sound like a Fran Drescher caricature. File it between irregular verbs and Mandarin in the ever-growing case against the English language: while the name of some dusty, rotten pig trots softly through the lips, classy—more a sickening cluck than a word—is meant to connote elegance, fashion, dignity, goodness. READ MORE 18
The Awful Rise of Snuck @1:20 PM
Things are getting hectic over at Language Log, in a conversation about the rise of "snuck" instead of "sneaked." (The chart at left: usage in the Times over the last few decades.) Notes one commenter: "Seems 'received' grammar has little stomach for regression toward non-standard false strong verbs." FOREALS YO! 22
The Woodchipper, by Claude Vordell, Former Manager of the Applebee's in Bozeman, MT @4:30 PM
The seemingly innocuous phrase "no problem" has recently shown up twice in stories in the New York Times. The first was in the enlightening and popular yet horrifically condescending and grouchy "100 Fucking Things You had Better Not Be Doing if You Want to Work at my Restaurant, and then again in the comments section of this week's plea to readers for more "Utterances and Signs That Annoy Me," by Stanley Fish. Apparently, when Times writers and readers say "thank You" to someone who is serving them in any manner, they do not want to hear "No problem," in return. Why? READ MORE 33
Elements of Stale, with Luke Mazur: Extreme Bar Exam Makeover @2:10 PM
So late last week, I learned that I failed the bar exam. I don't remember a ton from those two days in July. Which isn't too surprising, because apparently (we now know) I wasn't remembering much during those days either. I do remember, however, that at lunchtime thousands of future lawyers poured out of the Buffalo Convention Center and onto Niagara Square. There were more people outside in downtown Buffalo those two days than I could ever before remember. And they were from downstate too, and they were eating outside in the summertime just like they do in New York City. Even though I was failing a bar exam at the time, I do remember thinking that it was kind of neat that we were all gathered this way. READ MORE 33
Elements of Stale, with Luke Mazur: Rush Rules/Obama Challenge @11:40 AM
So I stayed in to watch Saturday Night Live last Saturday. I know you believe me, because, like my bio says, now I live at home with my parents. But that notwithstanding, I like to watch SNL, well, live. I'm sort of a news junkie and the 90 minutes of sketch comedy/whatever really tees up the Sunday morning talk shows for me. Remember that one Road Rules/Real World Challenge when Ayanna freaks out about sleeping in her game day clothes? Where she's so ready to compete that she sleeps in her uniform? Well, that's me every Saturday to Sunday. Except my uniform is sweatpants. And my competition is Jake Tapper tweeting about Peggy Noonan. READ MORE 7
Elements of Stale, with Luke Mazur: The More Famous Flu @10:02 AM
So I have swine flu. I mean, probably not, but I did get horribly sick last Tuesday. It's more logical that I just have the regular flu: more people get that one, and the symptoms as far as I can tell are pretty much the same. But because I've always been a sucker for common experiences—American Idol, paying attention to Major League Baseball playoffs, totally missing The Wire the first time around—I'm declaring this bout swine flu. Swine flu—not regular flu—has captured our imagination this year. Swine flu—not regular flu—is what gets Matt and Meredith talking on the Today show. And I want to be part of the conversation. READ MORE 12
Elements of Stale, with Luke Mazur: "Sorry" @2:20 PM
I always considered David Letterman a sort of father figure. With two baby boomer parents, I basically have two moms: first, my dad who blogs and reads Sufi poetry and cooks with ghee and wears bright colors, and second, my mom, who is saint for signing up for this. And so, growing up I depended on late night talk shows for the little genderizing that actually happened to me. Letterman, his shoulder as cold as the notoriously freezing Ed Sullivan Theater, represented for me a sort of fucked-up machismo. Where you come to work hammered and laugh at your own jokes and swallow your ailments and anxieties and hurt so that the only part of them we see is the times you're mean to that Hello Deli guy. You don't blog. You don't wear pink. READ MORE 11
