Uh-oh, someone disabled spellcheck. @thewrap.com

The next of the Big English Dictionary #WotY2025 is Cambridge's 'parasocial' www.bbc.com/news/article...

The president is just a guy with a job. I tell myself that the journalists who trained me would at this point tell him to fucking watch his mouth, but I feel pretty deluded about the whole thing at this point so people.com/donald-trump...

Word of the week: Minibus. The kind with wheels and the kind with words. With tangential but fun Omnibus content from omnitalented @kenjennings.bsky.social ! fritinancy.substack.com/p/word-of-th...

Not many people know this, but blasting musical soundtracks from the White House to distract from how badly your presidency is choking is actually called The Sondheimlich Maneuver.

SAG Awards is changing its name to the Actor Awards. Within Hollywood, everyone knows that SAG stands for the Screen Actors Guild, which is now known as SAG-AFTRA, but out in the rest of the world, a show called the SAG Awards raised questions. Read more about the change: bit.ly/47Kz68E

Great story. I met Betty Reid Soskin when she was still working at the Rosie the Riveter museum in Richmond — a job she took when she was 85. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Serious question: Should I, a vegetarian and pretty regular home cook, own an air fryer? What non-meat things is an air fryer good for?

Ad for @mullvad.bsky.social in the 19th Street Oakland BART station. The point: Your data remains private with us. 1/2

Day 13: Summer #LyricsPrompt #LyricsPrompt2025 What other song would you sing with your scout friends around the summer campfire? Tom Lehrer, "Be Prepared" youtu.be/hoEVPtVk9nE

Thoughts on style: appreciations of @dieworkwear.bsky.social, @trufelman.bsky.social, and more. fritinancy.substack.com/p/some-eleme...

Thanks for the mention! #WOTY

Recommended: "It Was Just an Accident" (2025), Jafar Pahahi's Palme d'Or–winning feature film. Political thriller meets black comedy, a nail-biter from start to finish. I saw it at the Elmwood, Berkeley's last remaining cinema; it's also at the Roxie in San Francisco. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF04...

“If you’ve spent any time consuming any AI news this year—and even if you’ve tried desperately not to—you may have heard that in the industry, 2025 is the ‘year of the agent.’”

"A boondoggle is a project that is considered a waste of both time and money, yet is often continued due to extraneous policy or political motivations."

HBO Max added 30 classic crime films in Nov — from proto-noirs like THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931) to essentials like OUT OF THE PAST (1947). Including their Criterion titles, they now have nearly 100 pre-1960 noirs. There’s even a dedicated #Noirvember section. (New adds in alt text.) #FilmSky #FilmNoir

"In September, the current occupant of the White House created a 'Presidential Walk of Fame' on the White House exterior. Instead of a portrait of the 46th president there’s a photograph of a mechanical pen between two glowering Trump mugshots." fritinancy.substack.com/p/word-of-th...

"By retreating to digital space, children have found an open frontier that lies beyond the interest or comprehension of their parents."

I'd held out hope that this @sfstandard.com hed was a pun, but no, it's just another misspelling of "peek." sfstandard.com/2025/11/11/m...

Unlike you, I can read and that’s why I know what the constitution says.

Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous. – Georgia O’Keeffe

"Among the >7,000 languages that still exist today, almost 1/2 are endangered according to UNESCO; ... less than 2% are supported by Google Translate; and according to OpenAI’s own testing, only 15, or 0.2%, are supported by GPT-4 above an 80% accuracy." – @karenhao.bsky.social, Empire of AI

I'm not going to show her face or reveal her name*, but oh, honey, you really need to get acquainted with a tailor. This jacket looks *terrible.* Where's our @dieworkwear.bsky.social for women's clothing? *She's a public official in San Francisco.

Bay Area folks (and visitors): Suzan-Lori Parks's "Sally and Tom," a play-within-a-play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson, is some of the best theater I've seen lately. Well written, well acted, witty and provocative. Through 11/23. purchase.marintheatre.org/EventAvailab...

My wife and I pay for life insurance even though we have never died. I pay for fire insurance even though my house has never burned down. That's not because we want to throw money at insurance companies. It's because THAT'S HOW INSURANCE WORKS.

Word of the week: Autopen. fritinancy.substack.com/p/word-of-th...

Excellent reporting. Copyediting would have made it better. @nytimes magazine 11/9/25 1. *is being 2. *one less

I prefer the singular possessive, "Oh, for fuck's sake." It just sounds more professional.

“Grindr, a dating app for gay men, has also unveiled six A.I. features that it calls gAI (pronounced gay-eye).” - @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/t...

Collins has announced VIBE CODING as its 2025 Word of the Year in a list, Rachel Quinn says for the dictionary, "encapsulates what it means to be human in the age of AI." : blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-lov...

My favorite comment on the FT story

Just learned about a new -washing compound: AI-washing, "blaming layoffs on the new technology to cover up business fumbles and old-fashioned cost cutting." www.cnbc.com/2025/11/04/w...

A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women 🧵

Australia has so much solar that it’s offering everyone free electricity. “The program would require electricity retailers to provide free electricity to everyone for at least three hours a day…” [electrek.co]

this looks like a trick daffy duck would put up to get bugs bunny into "the oval office"

On Shinola and Detrola, two old -ola brands getting a 21st-century glow-up. fritinancy.substack.com/p/brands-of-...

On DHS’s unauthorized use of Norman Rockwell’s paintings across social media, an op-ed from our family today in @usatoday.com www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Welcome back to ’Tis the Season season! This one’s from Amtrak. #tistheseason

Healthcare but only for my friends

Weird ad buy — page A7 of the Sunday @sfchronicle.com. Is anyone in the target audience likely to see it?

Nice.

Sooo many river songs. And many of the classics haven't yet been mentioned!

I'd never heard of this film until Geoff Dyer published his hilarious book about it. Have since watched and enjoyed immensely, giggling all the way. Broadsword Calling Danny Boy: On Where Eagles Dare | Geoff Dyer share.google/A8L9yWrixSt6...

If you've followed me after December 1, 2024, you should be aware that in November each year, I host #LyricsPrompt, where I post a word each day & folks reply with a song that the word evokes. I repost these replies, which means I end up posting a LOT. Join in—or mute the hashtag if it's too much!

Last chance to turn it off. On Monday, November 3rd, Microsoft will start using your LinkedIn data for AI training. And remember, you're opted in by default. To toggle it off 👉 Account - Settings & Privacy > Data privacy > Data for Generative AI Improvement.

Congratulations!

Today in Yet Another WTAF -- Tahoe commuter town names new government complex after Charlie Kirk

October links! An early #woty, the history of the Accenture name, Slovenian swears, the golden age of AI slop, the return of @ivacheung.com's #LyricsPrompt, and more. fritinancy.substack.com/p/october-li...

"The magnificently spiky production design, by Tamara Deverell, has a pronounced case of turrets syndrome." -- from the review

An early #WOTY pick from @dictionarycom.bsky.social -- and it's a number. Or two numbers. Which no one can quite define. www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-th...