Sunday, January 29, 2012
Some Punditry
I'm not sure whether anyone would disagree with this, or whether it is completely uncontroversial, but I haven't really heard much about it either way. If you were a Democrat, you'd probably be rooting for Newt Gingrich, wouldn't you? Whatever problems or liabilities Romney has, the notion that we'd be swearing in "President Gingrich" in 2013 is inconceivable.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
"illin'"-gate
I think the issue isn't whether "illin'" means something bad or good, since it's well-attested both ways, much like "bad" itself. The important distinction, to me, maps onto something like the "ser/estar" distinction in Spanish. In that case, "illin'" would be an "estar"-type word, and "wack" would be a "ser"-type word. If I say you're "illin'" I'm referring to your current state, but if I say you're "wack" I am referring to your essence. I don't think the two are directly substitutable and therefore, they are not synonyms.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Observations
I haven't been posting much, so this is an appropriate time for a miscellaneous fluff post.
1. I still can't make a comment on my own blog when signed in, I thought maybe that was a temporary glitch but I don't know what's wrong.
2. People always seem to think jokes about people from rural areas or the South having sex with their brother or sister is the funniest thing ever, but actually it isn't very funny. I don't have an ethical compunction against it, it's just cliched and played out. Tired, if you will.
3. Friday Night Lights is an incredibly addictive show but the quality isn't especially high. It's kind of hokey.
4. Ray Price's honky tonk material is superior to the later "countrypolitan" stuff, but the latter isn't bad.
5. I noticed that my rate of correctly guessing which ear bud went in which ear was incredibly high (they're marked 'L' and 'R') so I deduced that there must be some difference between them that was tipping me off. Indeed there is, they're shaped differently. Once I recognized this, I began to determine which bud went in which ear by consciously noting the shape, and at first my success rate was far lower than it was when the shape served as an unconscious cue. Now I know which is which, but the phenomenon was interesting.
6. Related to '5', what always amazed me about the Clever Hans story is how everyone took it as a debunking of the animal really being so clever, when it seems what he was actually doing is at least as impressive as knowing math.
1. I still can't make a comment on my own blog when signed in, I thought maybe that was a temporary glitch but I don't know what's wrong.
2. People always seem to think jokes about people from rural areas or the South having sex with their brother or sister is the funniest thing ever, but actually it isn't very funny. I don't have an ethical compunction against it, it's just cliched and played out. Tired, if you will.
3. Friday Night Lights is an incredibly addictive show but the quality isn't especially high. It's kind of hokey.
4. Ray Price's honky tonk material is superior to the later "countrypolitan" stuff, but the latter isn't bad.
5. I noticed that my rate of correctly guessing which ear bud went in which ear was incredibly high (they're marked 'L' and 'R') so I deduced that there must be some difference between them that was tipping me off. Indeed there is, they're shaped differently. Once I recognized this, I began to determine which bud went in which ear by consciously noting the shape, and at first my success rate was far lower than it was when the shape served as an unconscious cue. Now I know which is which, but the phenomenon was interesting.
6. Related to '5', what always amazed me about the Clever Hans story is how everyone took it as a debunking of the animal really being so clever, when it seems what he was actually doing is at least as impressive as knowing math.
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