Category: words

Adjective-order restrictions, as they’re called, happen in plenty of languages. But the ones in English – with the mnemonic acronym OSASCOMP – drive English-language learners nuts, even as native speakers follow the rules unconsciously.

“The collection, due to be published in April 2017 by Simon & Schuster imprint Scribner, is mainly drawn from stories written in the mid and late 1930s. It ranges from work that Fitzgerald was unable to sell because its ‘subject matter or style departed from what editors expected of [the author] in the 1930s’, Scribner said, to writing that he submitted to magazines, and which was accepted for publication but never printed.”

“It’s really little wonder that these boisterous yet gently soothing books endure. Consider, for instance, the over-the-top masterpiece of the series, Curious George Gets a Medal. It begins quietly when the little monkey receives a letter. He puts it aside and – like Chekhov’s gun – that letter remains in the background for many pages, nearly forgotten, until it reappears at a dramatic turning point. Before that, though, George …”

“I write bodice-rippers. Paperback romance novels that seek to titillate and entertain (both me and the reader). I create what is commonly referred to as pulp fiction. I was very lucky to have a mentor from the start, a friend far more established in their academic career who also has a sideline in crime novels. They advised me in no uncertain terms to keep the two absolutely separate. I should not breathe a word about my novel-writing until I had a permanent position. This is the advice that I would, unhappily, give to anyone doing the same thing.”

“Shakespeare did not coin phrases such as ‘it’s Greek to me’ and ‘a wild goose chase’, according to an Australian academic. In an article for the University of Melbourne, Dr David McInnis, a Shakespeare lecturer at the institution, accuses the Oxford English Dictionary of ‘bias’ over its citation of Shakespeare as the originator of hundreds of words in English.”

John McWhorter, as part of an interview with Renee Montagne on the ways English has always been changing: “[The word literally has become] something called a contronym. Contronyms, let’s face it, are neat. We should rejoice that our language has interesting little wrinkles as long as they don’t interfere with comprehension.”

“Started in 1780 by Irishman James Augustus Hicky, … the paper was a mixture between tabloid and satire – rather unlike the more serious tone of newspapers in Britain at the time, which had just won the right to report on Parliamentary proceedings. Though Hicky’s Bengal Gazette was ostensibly concerned with political developments within the East India Company, Hicky primarily focused his coverage on the mockery of his personal enemies.”

“Early and Late Bloom County should be worth a week in some future bullshit college course on pop history. Nobody has done this before – start strip, stop strip, start family, see world, get old, watch world become digital, start strip again. So it is sorta intriguing. Remember, Bloom County became of age when I was barely out of college. I ended it at an age most college kids now graduate and finally leave the house. Read: what the hell did I know?”

“I couldn’t help but notice a revelatory lacuna. There were no critics or writers on the arts among the announced participants. None of the subjects of the panels (‘Power in the Home,’ ‘Power in the Nation,’ ‘Power in the World’) appear to deal with issues raised by arts and culture coverage. Winners of awards in Investigative Journalism, History, Public Service, Poetry, Drama, Feature Writing, Editorial Writing, General Non-fiction, Photography, and Commentary are represented — but nothing in the august line-up acknowledges there is a prize for Criticism.”