Some Austen scholars say that the standard for male beauty has changes since Pride and Prejudice was first in front of a reading public. “I mean, we all know that Austen wasn’t actually thinking of Colin Firth when she wrote the book.”
Category: words
Any Connection Between Literary Quality And Money?
“No level of affluence will ensure that you write a worthwhile book. Consider the laws of the literary few: Having lots of money confers status but having very little confers legitimacy, which offers a different kind of status; having too much is unseemly yet so is having none. The rich and the poor collude in believing that the amount of money you inherit or make means something about your moral fiber, the quality of your art. What will we do when we find out it doesn’t?”
So, Like, Where Did Everybody Saying ‘Like’ Come From?
Yes, the usage exploded in the 1970s and ’80s, but it didn’t originate with Valley Girls or even hippies – it goes back at least to the 1770s. In this Lexicon Valley podcast, John McWhorter and sociolinguist Alexandra D’Arcy talk about the history and (yes) grammar of “like.”
F—Ing A: Why Profanity Is Good For Us
Joan Acocella, reviewing two new books on the subject, considers the benefits of dirty words: their “analgesic effect,” their “cathartic power,” their “barrier-crossing function,” their role in bonding.
Linguist Explains Why ‘Poetry Slam Voice’ Drives People Crazy
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you’ve ever attended a poetry slam, you probably already hate ‘slam voice.’ … As an outsider, it’s an easy thing to make fun of, but unfortunately for our cold, dead hearts, it’s always been hard to articulate exactly why it annoys us.
Until now.”
Why Public Libraries Are Finally Giving Up Fines For Overdue Books
“Now some libraries are deciding that the money isn’t worth the hassle – not only that, but that fining patrons works against everything that public libraries ought to stand for.” Ruth Graham explains the reasoning and the results.
Literary Places So Famous They Become Real
Perhaps the ultimate tribute? Places invented in literature that become so famous that real places name themselves after them. It’s a tribute, of course. And there are a lot of them…
Judge Orders Vandals To Read Books
A judge sentenced the teenagers to read the books, as well as watching 14 films, visiting two museums and writing a research paper to encourage “a greater appreciation for gender, race, religion, and bigotry” (sic) after they were caught vandalising the Ashburn Colored School in Virginia.
Why Are There So Many Words Of The Year?
“Started in 1990 by a small group of linguists, Word of the Year has spread like a video of an anarchist punching a Nazi that’s been set to music.” Stefan Fatsis explains how it happened.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Is Now Amazon’s Number-One Bestseller
“[Margaret] Atwood’s foreboding tale of a society that regresses into religiously driven totalitarianism took the top spot from Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ Dangerous.” (Guess the Super Bowl ad worked.)