Continued from Insignificant Verbiage. It’s been fun the last few days, taking the position in a running office argument that “irregardless” is a word. I’m well aware that it’s ridiculous. That’s precisely why it’s so much fun. When I hear people complaining in an exaggerated way — e.g. “Ughh, I hhhate when people say that!” — my [...]
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communication,
language,
neologisms,
rules,
writing
Robert Fulford’s recent column addresses a favourite topic, irritating phrases: A boss I endured in my youth told me early in our relationship that he favoured “forward planning.” His voice spoke of stern commitment to management principles. Afflicted as I was by the frightened politeness of the young, I lacked the nerve to say that [...]
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clichés,
communication,
editing,
grammar,
insignificant verbiage,
jacques barzun,
language,
robert fulford,
vocabulary,
writing
Mark Bauerlein complained at WSJ.com that “Gen-Y Johnny Can’t Read Nonverbal Cues.” It has something to do with all the time they spend, according to Nielson Mobile, sending and receiving an individual average of maybe 1,742 or 2,272 mobile text messages per month. And what’s supposed to be bad about that? Bauerlein’s concern is that “much of [...]
Tagged as:
asd,
asperger's syndrom,
autism,
cognitive styles,
communication,
create your own economy,
cultural evolution,
evolution,
generation y,
language,
mark bauerlein,
neurodiversity,
nonverbal communication,
psychology,
society,
the dumbest generation,
tyler cowen,
work
by OpenConceptual on 07-17-2009
in concepts
In the process of summarizing my last post, Jeff Jarvis suggested I was “searching for a metaphor for what I’ve been calling beta-think.” He’s exactly right — though I wasn’t aware of it when I started writing — so I’m going to take that up with a bit more brevity and focus. The search for [...]
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beta,
beta-think,
heuristics,
human nature,
language,
metaphors,
motivation,
recursion,
relevance,
thinking,
web,
will to relevance
There’s a good article in The Atlantic by Steven Pinker about swearing on TV. Here’s what the man says: I noted that over time, taboo words relinquish their literal meanings and retain only a coloring of emotion, and then just an ability to arouse attention. This progression explains why many speakers are unaware that sucker, sucks, [...]
Tagged as:
language,
swearing,
writing
