In a landmark blow for linguistic and orthographic equality, a famous New York newspaper has made the decision to eliminate all words of four letters. “For a long time now,” says director of publicity and propaganda Bob Brzezinszki, “we have illegitimately discriminated against a small group of four letter words, to the point of excluding […]
Language
Grammar: A Manifesto
There is really no excuse for incorrect grammar. Perhaps Chaucer might have been able to get away with saying things like Oure Hooste lough, and swoor, “So moot I gon, This gooth aright; unbokeled is the male, Lat se now who shal telle another tale, For trewely the game is wel bigonne, by claiming that […]
Translations for Sales Slogans
A Flying News Exclusive You’ve seen them at the side of the road, in the supermarket, and on the bus. Call them sales phrases, advertising slogans, or tag lines, they are an irksome, but cryptic, part of our life. If you’ve ever wondered what statements like “Lovin’ Beats Hatin’” or “An American Revolution” really […]
ISO Deprecates Biomorphic Computer Terminology
Not so many days ago, I, in complete innocence and meaning no harm, happened to mention that my hard drive had ‘died’. No sooner were these words out of my mouth, however, when a muscular, uniformed, and very impressively armed man grabbed the collar of my shirt and pushed me against the nearest wall. This […]
Multilingual Alarm Clocks
Have you ever felt frustrated with your alarm clock? Not because it didn’t wake you up in time for that critically important early morning stagger to the coffee shop, and not even because it did wake you up when you really wanted to sleep in on a Monday morning, but simply because it was boring? […]
New FDA Rules to Limit Use of Adjectives
Do you enjoy free-range, grass-fed, boneless, skinless, additive-free, organic, all-natural, extra-virgin margarine? Or are you addicted to expeller-pressed, unrefined, unhomogenized steak? If so, stock up on these products now, as FDA regulations taking effect next month will make these, and many other, foods impossible to obtain (at least legally). The new FDA regulations occur in […]
Native Coders
The idea of teaching your child more than one languages from birth is not particularly new or original. In fact, in the world today there may be as many bilingual as there are monoglot children.1 What is new about the Natural Coding Movement is the other language which child is taught: from birth, the baby […]
Sign Language Institute Offers Advanced Music Interpretation
The South Carolina Sign Language Institute is now offering courses in advanced ASL Music Interpretation. If you’ve ever watched a sign language interpreter translating music into signs, you’ll notice that, while the words of the music can be rendered very literally, the interpretation of the music is not nearly as precise. The rhythm is more […]