Speaking of presidents using autopens, Thomas Jefferson did it first. Got an objection to that? blogs.illinois.edu/view/25/805641

Facebook really knows how to deliver an ad...

The Red State Model of higher education: The faculty have "commandeered" campuses for decades. It's time for administrators to have a turn.

Posted without comment...

The color of the year is white? Pantone going full MAGA.

It turns out that when copy editing is optional, you can forget about both accuracy and quality.

Of course there's an AI rebbe, but there's also a disclaimer.

"An Eurasian..."?

Snow day means snow globe back yard.

To lose the crown jewels may be regarded as a misfortune. But to lose a year's worth of snails ...

Revised and re-upping this post on "The second-oldest neopronoun, coined in 1849: ne, nis, and nim" bit.ly/475S3Cr

Celebrating the publication of Merriam-Webster's 12th Collegiate, I am reminded of this important First Amendment hypothetiical: Can a baker refuse to bake a dictionary cake on religious grounds if they have a deeply-held belief that dictionaries are woke tools of the devil?

So bankbooks are obsolete, 🐝?

With the assault-by-sub-sandwich trial in progress here's a re-up of my post, "Is a sandwich a weapon? And if so, does it enjoy constitutional protection?" blogs.illinois.edu/view/25

Cry the spilt milk. Le Figaro quiz testing the equivalence of English and French idioms, great but maybe first get the English right?

Two views of the University of Chicago . . .

It's the stuff concrete poems are made from.

The Böcker Agilo is the perfect gift for the jewel thieves on your list.

The euro sausage strikes again...

5 across No visa for you, Paul.

Waiting to see if last night's rain means fish might be back ....

That's ok, 🐝, I can wait.

Pronouns in the news, 1955 edition: The clue for 27 across, "proposed third-person genderless pronoun," assumes that at least some solvers will be familiar with "thon."

🐝 the speardanes would like a word...

Pronouns in the news, 1869 edition: San Francisco Woman Suffrage Society votes on use of generic "she" to refer to men who join. When that proposal failed, the group settled on "he or she." SF Chronicle, Dec. 26, p. 1.

A particularly photogenic coffee at Plein Air Café

Me, on free speech, the flag burning ban, and, oh, did sombody say pronouns? scholarscircle.org

"Uses a variety of research methods to demonstrate how policies that concern language status are inseparable from economics, race, and identity politics." Making English Official by Katherine S. Flowers | Out Now & #OpenAcccess https://cup.org/4m0J21C #LangSky 🐦🐦 🗺️ #Linguistics

My review of King & Conqueror: Wait for the tapestry.

I get better hate mail than you do.

Donald Trump doesn’t want non-English-speakers to assimilate. He just wants them gone. First he declared English official. Then his Dept. of Ed dropped support for English language learners. What's next for them? A ticket to Rwanda? read about it here: weboflanguage.substack.com/p/donald-tru...

Trying a substack to see if gets more traffic than a blog: We, as Concerned Legal Lexicographers, submit this declaration in an attempt to answer the question, Is a sandwich a weapon? And if so, is it protected by the Constitution? weboflanguage.substack.com/p/is-a-sandw...

Is a sandwich a weapon enjoying Second Amendment protection? Find out now on the Web of Language: bit.ly/4lwuF4H

After defining a sandwich (is a hot dog a sandwich? a taco? a blintz?) we must then determine whether a sandwich is a weapon.

How not to correct anyone's pronouns and verbs, 1923 edition: 'His'n' is not English;; 'took' adds nothing to the hitting. Uh . . . [San Francisco Call and Post, Sept. 19, p. 14.]

So BBC "culture" lists the best "fiction novels"--but what if I want some other kind of novel?

...and the portions are so small.

When we first started coming to England years and years ago, I wasn't used to pictograph signs instead of signs with words. So I saw a sign like this and I didn't think, "EXIT," I thought, "this way to the loo."

Pronoun lessons, once guaranteed to put students to sleep, are keeping lawmakers awake. Some pronouns have gender, so red states want to inspect your pronouns the same way they want to make sure you're on the right team or using the right toilet. Read about it on the Web of Language: bit.ly/4mnN8RS

"I am pointing a 'gub' at you...."

A neopronoun blast from the past: The first set of English gender-inclusive neopronouns, E, es, em, was coined back in 1841; the second set, ne, nis, nim, appeared in 1849. Now you can read all about it, and so much more about pronouns, on the Web of Language: bit.ly/475S3Cr

In his Encyclopedia of English Grammar (1849), William Hall, who was from Virginia, says that the neuter gender "denotes things without sex, as Wisconsin . . . ."

Neopronouns, 1849 edition: William Hall coined ne, nis, and nim, derived from Latin nonnemo, 'someone, anyone.' Hall also proposed a new gender, the "either gender" (Encyclopedia of English Grammar, v2: 109-112n; some of Hall's example sentences are downright bizarre; h/t Jude Vanderstroom).

I wrote lots of pictures over the years.

Pronouns in the news, 1977 edition: Community college instructor David Kinellis wants to avoid excessive non-sexist "or's" by adopting E, Er, and Es as gender-neutral pronouns for both people and fish. These "neopronouns" were first proposed in 1841 and were later reinvented a number of times.

Considering the words the 🐝 accepted today, for pity's sake it's time to allow 'ruth.'

Pronouns in the news, 1955 edition: An article on snoring asks "the Government" for an official common gender pronoun, "so that we may avoid the constant use of the phrase 'he or she." Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette (Greenock, Strathclyde, Scotland) · Sat, Jun 4, 1955 · Page 4.

No boffin, 🐝?

Pronouns in the law, 2025 edition: New Illinois consultant contract refers to the consultant as "it." Sure, if the consultant is a company. But in this clause, about educational loans, the consultant must be an individual.

I thought legislatures in states like Iowa and Florida already did that...