New CSS
You complained. I answered. Thanks, old friend miahz, for updating my style sheet! Now links are much more easily distinguished from regular text, and a few other colors look better, too.
The Kindle Has Arrived—Carrying Technopolistic Questions!
My Kindle arrived today! It's very cool. I hope to liberate a lot of texts on my hard drive that I'm not reading. But I've been reading Neil Postman's Technopoly , and these lines struck me: "Every technology is both a burden and a blessing…. Technology giveth and technology taketh away." 4–5 I know what Kindle giveth, I think. But what doth it take away? Let me offer an example and then ask you. This book is on my Amazon wishlist: I can get it for $15.17 with free Super-Saver Shipping, or I...
Luther Turns Over in His Grave Again (He’s Been Practically Spinning for Decades, Really)
I saved this when it came out last week and just got around to reading it. I highly recommend you take a look! In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago—the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife—and reminding them of the church’s clout in mitigating the wages of sin.—the New York Times
Don’t Miss the Mess!
Thanks to Phil Gons for an enriching discussion about Lexicographical Prescriptivism. I encourage others to check it out! Phil always made any class we took together much better by his trenchant questions. Let me remind everyone, too, that I believe this little topic is very important because it has such a distinct bearing on Bible interpretation. I hope to give examples in a future post.
Please Peruse this Post-Post
Note to a recent commenter on the issue of Lexicographical Prescriptivism: I don't think we can limit our usage surveys to “educated people.” That's a slippery category. I could, however, add that usage should ideally be “unselfconscious”: as soon as you ask people a usage question they're liable to fall back into Lexicographical Prescriptivism! Also, there are different levels of formality. Usage agrees—right now—that “whole nother” is appropriate for casual speech but not for formal...