Category Archives: Philology
Freeing Oneself from Profanity: Offense is in the mind of the beholder.
I have a gay friend who doesn’t like the term homosexual: “It sounds too clinical…it makes me feel like I’m in a laboratory.” He also doesn’t like the term queer because it makes being gay sound aberrant or abnormal. So … Continue reading
Shoveling the Driveway – An Object Lesson
The snow that fell right before the new year was a pretty dry snow; it was thick, heavy…the kind that’s hard to shovel. If it’s wet the shovel scoops it up in thick clumps, because the snow sticks to itself. … Continue reading
The Appropriation of Classical Literature Forms from an Improvisational Perspective
An early draft of my graduate school thesis was my theory is that Del based the Harold form on the Petrarchan Sonnet. Normally you break down a sonnet thusly by mapping the rhyme scheme: Stanza 1: A B A B … Continue reading
It’s hard to separate morality from social convention.
Unless you’re one of these people who are going to freak out if I use the phrase “relative morality” in a sentence, read on. Constantly re-examine your ideas of morality. I wrote a long and winding thesis citing everything … Continue reading
Conversations in the Elevator: An Update of an Old Buddhist Tale
There once was a very wealthy man who had everything he could possibly want…but he was discontent. He wanted to know what was the point of it all. He was told to seek out the Buddha. At this time Buddha had … Continue reading
I apologize for my lack of post last week, it was a really crazy week…
To make up for it, I’ll post a two-parter today. Feel free to come back and read the second half on Thursday to spread out the entertainment. If you’re not even going to read the first post, here’s the interesting … Continue reading
In 2009, one word will enter and another will leave.
In 2009, philologists estimate that the number of words in the English language will reach the 1,000,000 mark. To celebrate that event, I am retiring a word from my usage and adopting another. I’m a firm believer in the idea … Continue reading
