I have been in the same room with @benzimmer.bsky.social, @jacklynch000.bsky.social, and @petersokolowski.bsky.social and it's so much fun to discuss words.

"When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter...."

Tom resumed his paper-grading, and answered carelessly: “Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”

This is just a note to say that I have eaten the falcon in a widening gyre and that you were probably saving for anarchy Forgive me it was delicious so rough and full of passionate intensity

Found on NJT. (At least I find ways to amuse myself while standing in the vestibule of a packed train because they canceled the one before it.)

Paging @nushpowell.bsky.social …

Like the suburban developments named after whatever natural feature was destroyed to build them

I promise I'll try to do better.

IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, I'M GOING TO SPEND THE REST OF THE 2020s WATCHING THIS VIDEO ON A LOOP CHECK IN WITH ME IN JANUARY 2030

Some moose in their natural habitat.

Checking out the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History.

Surely we have all lived too long.

Since we're renaming things in DC, might as well get it all over with at once.

A Yuletide reminder: George Bailey would never have hit rock bottom if he had @merriam-webster.com ‘s Twelfth Collegiate. LEXICOGRAPHY SAVES LIVES

You drive a hard bargain, Mr. President, but I accept your terms.

Boy, the next column from the NYT public editor is gonna be lit, huh

Sure they’re extra, but you get what you pay for. I say go for the whole package and save yourself money in the long run.

I guess it’s good to know I’m never going to get stupider than my current baseline, such as it is.

What an I doing wrong so that, after nearly thirty years at the university, no outside vendor has offered me an ethically indefensible bribe even once? I’d like the chance to test my moral compass at least once before I retire.

“Potentially divisive” was the winner after they considered “Swastikas are conceivably objectionable,” “perchance inelegant,” “kinda tacky,” “sometimes a bit gauche,” “sorta tasteless,” and “maybe unseemly.”

Happy 250th!

Congratulations to new White House Chief of Staff Marco Rubio

Despite the bad jobs report, I have reason to believe a high-profile position may be opening up in the DC area very soon.

On this anniversary, spare a thought for anyone who publishes research on Jane Austin, and can’t go a day without explaining to someone, “No, it really is the one with the -i- in it.”

HAPPY 250TH TO JANE AUSTEN

All subtlety is out the window this season, I see.

To complete his Christmas goodwill tour, after insulting a murder victim and starving deafblind children, he’ll go around and kick some orphans in the shins.

Hard to believe this guy did something tactless.

Can’t wait for Mike Johnson to say he hasn’t heard about it!

I can't think of a more honorable accolade than having the worst person to have ever walked the Earth demean you in death. If only I could be so lucky to incur the ire of the devil himself.

Fun fact: 'Deck the Halls' was written in 1862, the exact year in which use of "it's the" overtook "'tis the" in books.

A midterm ad for Dems that just says, “Measles, people. Honestly. Measles. Come on.”

Feeling like Tippi Hedren in here.

I knew it! Thank you, New York Times of 1900, for settling the question on all our minds.

NO WAY THIS CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG!

Obiit xiii Dec 1784

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

How long do you think two bitterly divided parties fought tooth-and-nail over the title of the journal they were planning?

at least twice a day I am overcome by a profound need for cheese

In an entrepreneurial spirit, I’m just putting it out there: I too am prepared to call strangers any racial slur you like in return for $130,000. Whatcha got?

Delays on NJT?! Now I’ve heard everything.

And my train is a mere 28 minutes late. NJ Transit, you’re too good to me. You really are.

So many questions, so many mysteries for the ages.

It’s crap like this that makes me glad I have fewer years ahead of me than behind me in academia. Whatever the fate of this particular effort, many more are coming.

What? I didn’t do nothin’.

I had many obsessions as a schoolboy, some endearing, some embarrassing, but the Endlösung der Judenfrage was not among them.