People who insist on plural ādataā usually avoid the fussy ādatumā and say āa piece of dataā. Butā¦ horrors, they give themselves away. āA piece ofā is not used with plural nouns (a piece of gumdrops), only with singular mass nouns (a piece of popcorn). I canāt think of an exception. (Can you?)
Given how much of this applies to me, I feel subtweeted, though Michael and I are friends and I doubt that. To address some of the points in his thoughtful piece: 1/
Interesting thread. Agree and disagree in part. The instruction to write like ordinary people do often means using words like āmestastasizeā or ālameā and even āseminalā metaphorically. Most words are metaphorical extensions of earlier ones and we would be poorer if we declared them off limits.
Claudia Sheinbaum becomes the first woman to be president of Mexico today, or *presidenta*. This is a new-ish word in Spanish, because in languages that do gender like Spanish and French do, there are two competing feminist approaches. 1/
I have defended Trump in the "bloodbath" comments because he was clearly talking metaphorically about the car business. Well here he is literally calling for vigilante violence. With him you don't need to make things up; just give him time. www.nbcnews.com/video/trump-...
During the rally in Erie, Pa., Former President Donald Trump suggested that "that one really violent day" and "one rough hour" could end shoplifting crimes. He even pointed out Congressman Mike Kelly,...
As a guy named Lane I can't believe I didn't see this when it came out. A few obvious thoughts: 1/
Rummaging through one of biggest, most valuable datasets not in government hands, we discovered some fascinating links between names and politics.
In happier Britishism news, I just heard the phrase "not troubling the scorers", for someone not performing well. Maybe the most quintessentially British expression I've ever heard, implying that scoring (cricket) runs is a slightly unwelcome bothering of the scorers' otherwise quiet afternoon.
Confession: I've been working in UK English for 24 years (and did a master's in Britain) but no force on earth is capable of making me internalise the rules for practice/practise, licence/license etc. I know the rule, have various mnemonics, I know where to look up, etc. But it is *never* automatic.
"Guys, traffic is down 74% on last year. I need some pitches that are so spectacularly awful and wrong that they will generate hate-clicks for as long as Google is in business." www.spectator.co.uk/article/spai...
Spain is busy with an image update. Thanks to a host of savvy media stories, weāre now supposed to think of Spain not just in terms of package holidays, sangria, and Catholicism but also as chic, roma...