I propose that the general principle of which the familiar writer's adage "show, not tell" is a particularized instance is that language is generally more interesting when it is attempting a task it is ill-equipped to accomplish.

In detective novels, when someone hires a private eye to protect them, they generally want said private eye to stay with them and make sure that they get out alive ( Read more... )

Article's in to Nigel.

Gulp.

It's not particularly productive to look for jobs or housing when depressed.  I find myself even less capable than usual of giving myself a good recommendation.

"The ratio of fundamental frequency to subglottal pressure has been estimated on the basis of two types of experiments.  In one type, air is blown through a freshly excised larynx, a technique that is 250 years old.  In the other, a subject, instructed to phonate at a constant pitch and intensity, is pushed in the stomach at random intervals.  This ( Read more... )

It is perhaps only symptomatic of broader underlying difficulties in the metrical studies that one must always remember to search both for meter and for metre.

1. Sam was athetized by Aristarchus.
2. Sam is a system of great extension and great economy.
3. Sam is neither a word nor a concept.
4. Arbitrary and differential are two correlative characteristics of Sam.
5. Sam is suing the government over some bad meat.

la-o-co-o-nar-dens-sum-ma-de-cur-ri-ta-bar-ce

The images are trite.  And yet, and yet ( Read more... )

"...because that sensation was a foray into the future, and it is forbidden to ransack the future, he was swiftly punished."