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Performative
Performative
In speech-act terms, a performative is a statement that does something. In current everyday use, performative describes a statement that pretends to do something, that is merely a performance, that substitutes for doing anything of substance.
#culture#politics#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
Performative
“Commensurate”?
“Commensurate”?
If there’s a more pompous way to say it, Brian Williams will find it.
#MSNBC#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
“Commensurate”?
Conjugation?
Conjugation?
“I googled [blank].” Okay. But what if one uses DuckDuckGo?
#grammar#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
Conjugation?
On a helical staircase
On a helical staircase
I like this passage on purism in language use, from Follett’s Modern American Usage (1966).
#usage#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
On a helical staircase
Stalling vs. declining to act
Stalling vs. declining to act
Curious phrasing in the Illinois news segment dropped into NPR’s Morning Edition this morning: Senate Democrats are seeking to stall any nomination to the Supreme Court. But: In 2016, Senate Republicans declined to act on Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. The verbs caught my ear.
#politics#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
Stalling vs. declining to act
Anne Fadiman on singular they
Anne Fadiman on singular they
“For more than six decades, I’ve accepted without thinking that when we say that someone went to the store, we don’t have to specify whether that someone was old or young, rich or poor, fat or thin, tall or short, but we do have to specify whether the someone was a ‘he’ or a ‘she.’ Now I’m starting to think that’s a little weird.”
#words#usage
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
Anne Fadiman on singular they
An M-W Word of the Day: heyday
An M-W Word of the Day: heyday
I’ve been meaning to write about the word heyday for months now. Too late: Merriam-Webster has done the work for me.
#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
An M-W Word of the Day: heyday
Word of the day: buff
Word of the day: buff
They were always male, and they wore madras shorts in summer, particularly at cookouts, where they spoke of Brubeck and Kenton, lenses and pre-amps.
#dowdyworld#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
Word of the day: buff
Five words
Five words
I’m from Brooklyn — it’s just four words.
#memory#words
·mleddy.blogspot.com·
Five words