languagehat.comLanguages, hats, and more.INTERVIEWS WITH BRODSKY.- June 13, 2008 Words Without Borders presents Thirteen Ways of Looking at Joseph Brodsky, an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Valentina Polukhina:Between 2003 and 2004, Valentina Polukhina conducted a series of interviews about Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Joseph Brodsky. She spoke with former Brodsky student and executive director of The Academy of American Poets (from 1989 to 2001) William Wadsworth; respected American essayist Susan Sontag; and prolific poet, playwright, essayist and fellow Nobel..http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003153.php MY EYE AND BETTY.- June 12, 2008 I don't know how many people are still familiar with the old expression of incredulity "All my eye and Betty Martin" (e.g., from Walter De la Mare's 1930 On Edge: "You might be suggesting that both shape and scarecrow too were all my eye and Betty Martin"), but there's a good discussion of it by Mark Liberman over at the Log. The eighteenth century (when it appears to have originated) was at least as fond of folk etymologies as we are today, and there are a couple involving implausible...http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003152.php LOVES WIFE, BUT.- June 11, 2008 Today's Dear Abby nicely complements yesterday's snooty deplorer:DEAR ABBY: I am happily married to the most wonderful woman in the world. I feel blessed to have her in my life and to be a part of hers. I am not an elitist; I like to think I am a humble person. But I do believe in correct grammar, proper pronunciation and the eloquent employment of words in conversation. My wife did not have the benefit of an upbringing in which these were practiced. She comes from the "ain't got no" school of.http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003151.php DESCRIPTIVISM AS SLAVE MORALITY.- June 10, 2008 Mark Liberman at the Log quotes a message from a correspondent who, after some high-minded insults ("disingenuous smug misrepresentations "), gets down to brass tacks:At the end of the day, Descriptivism appears merely to be another form of Nietzsche's concept of slave morality, which is the dominant morality of our day. Emily Bender's remarks, as quoted in your post of 102806, offer a typically tedious, humorless, and self-righteous example of this type of morality. Descriptivism, like most..http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003150.php JSTOR.- June 9, 2008 If you've been frustrated by finding at Google a tantalizing snippet of what looks like an invaluable article on exactly the topic you're interested in, only to discover that it's behind the JSTOR wall, you'll want to read this conversation between Tom Matrullo of IMproPRieTies and Bruce Heterick, Director of Library Relations at JSTOR. Here's the basic point:In fact, and here's the maybe-if-and-when good news, the presiding lights behind JSTOR are now looking at various ways and means to open.http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003149.php |