Economy of language is usually preferable to verbosity, but sometimes more words are better. When we were visiting friends recently, our host, disputing something his wife said, replied, “What you say flows from the bull’s anus.” It was refreshing alternative to the retort “That’s bull shit” and made everybody, including his wife, chuckle. Maybe refreshing … More Sometimes More Words Are Better
A friend of mine and fellow Jew pointed out to me recently that there are many more African Americans killed annually by the American police than there are Paleistinians killed by “evil, racist Israeli settlers.” He asked me whether I have given up on the U.S. yet. His question prompted the following reflection. The … More Reflection on African Americans and Palestinians
I am a complainer. I have complained to managers about bad service in stores and restaurants. I have complained to customer service reps about being put on hold on the telephone. I have complained about the music that I have had to listen to while on hold. Not long ago, after being put on hold … More Unintended Consequences
I am not generally given to conspiracy theories, but the current state of the Republican Party cries out for an explanation, and it’s hard to come up with one that doesn’t involve some sort of conspiracy. How can you explain the odd behaviour of the following four GOP presidential candidates? Donald Trump, the front-runner, insults … More The Great Conspiracy
We were flying back to Victoria from New York. While we were waiting to board the plane at JFK, our name was called to come up to the departure gate desk. I was hoping we had been bumped up to business class, but, alas, the young woman at the desk just wanted to check our … More The Detox Myth
Many years ago I always signed my name Alan D. Rutkowski. Then I read an article, probably in Reader’s Digest, about handwriting analysis that claimed signatures reveal fundamental personality traits. If I signed my name A. Donald Rutkowski, it would indicate that I was pretentious and hungry for recognition. If I signed it A. Rutkowski, … More How Do You Dot the “i” in Pseudoscience?
A prevalent stereotype about intellectuals and academics is that while they’re very intelligent in academic matters, they generally lack emotional intelligence (or street smarts, or some other desirable trait). Sure they’re very smart intellectually, but they’re nerdy and can’t relate to people. It’s as though most intellectuals are somewhere on the autism scale, ready to … More The Nerdy Academic Myth
Several years ago I taught a critical thinking course. I asked students why they thought some people are better at solving problems than others. They came up with a surprising array of reasons: poor diet, lack of exercise, childhood trauma suffered when trying to solve a problem, and bad teachers. In twenty minutes or so … More Intelligence
Twenty-one things to be thankful for in no particular order Antibiotics Dentists Doctors (real ones) The secular state Anti-fungal ointments Vaccines Movies The internet Comedians Literacy Science Foreign correspondents Dogs Crows Modern sewage systems Cities Sex Autumn Grandchildren Whiskey Ignasz Semmelweis
Linguists—not polyglots who speak many languages, but scholars who study language—are concerned with describing how a language works. That’s descriptive grammar. Those who teach English are concerned with prescriptive grammar, that is, with teaching the grammar and usage rules of Standard English. But who made the rules? We can easily forget that grammar does not … More Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Grammar
No Harm Spilt 