All Verbal Energy
My duodecimoplex and other complicationsAn official form that must be filed with 12 copies prompts some musings on how hardworking the metaphor ‘folding’ is in our language.
The bells we want to unring take their tollA look at an inspired metaphor for talking about the courtroom problem of tainted testimony in court.
Vin Scully’s music – and his silencesThe longtime voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers sometimes broadcast the game by knowing when to shut up.
The mungo men and the bomb squadAn account of how one of the Chelsea bombs was foiled introduces a colorful bit of New York City slang.
Could word power save us from road rage?A vintage Disney cartoon has some profound insights for today’s drivers.
A visit to Tom Wolfe’s ‘Kingdom of Speech’The man in the white suit takes on Darwin and Chomsky.
Burke, Twain, and the economy of truthThere’s a special way to speak of someone who tells ‘the truth,’ and ‘nothing but the truth,’ but not quite ‘the whole truth.’
Some gentle notes for the mean seasonA look at how two identical words of very different origin drifted into one – and provided a perfect term for just this time of year.
How much ‘overexaggeration’ is enough?In light of the incident of the American Olympians in Rio, a look at the vocabulary of overstatement, understatement.
A cool idea for a hot season makes a splash'Water features' trace their origin – etymologically and literally – back to ancient Babylon and Rome.
Taking care lest you trip over cableA look at some of curious lingo of currency traders as the pound has fallen against the dollar in the wake of the ‘Brexit’ vote.
Political correctness and the apostle PaulA look at the surprising history of a phrase that’s been much a part of this year’s presidential campaign.
A more positive understanding of protestThe events of a long hot summer prompt research into some of the vocabulary of public gatherings.
Desire lines, in our cities and our languageThe way people ‘vote with their feet’ for a new path through a park has something in common with the way they establish new grammatical usages by using them.
Policy ideas that work ‘out of the box’A presidential interview serves as a reminder that our language has two ‘out of the box’ idioms.
Going with the momentum of the momentA word much heard during political seasons is an apt borrowing from the worlds of physics and math.
How word power made Ali ‘the Greatest’The late boxing great was an early rapper and a political poet as well as a pugilist.
For a time, a life attuned to the tidesA return visit to a familiar beach house prompts some thoughts on time and the ebb and flow of the ocean.
From first lady to first woman president?Why ‘female president’ isn’t the best term, however this year’s election turns out.
Not wishing to presume about the electionThe US presidential race affords an opportunity to consider the difference between ‘heir apparent’ and ‘heir presumptive.’
