Spoofreading

 A friend sent me this link: The Impotence of Proofreading. Delightful piece. Thanks PK. The blog on which this was posted is also well worth browsing.
Proofreading - that handmaiden of writing - reminds me  of some household chores, like putting the clothes out to dry, bringing them in and putting them away in wardrobes; drying the dishes and [...]

A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

(Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticsm, 1711)
I’m not the greatest fan of Pope. And of course critics have decidedly shown him his place in the general scheme of things literary. But his well-worn aphorism  about a little learning does seem frighteningly relevant today, when learning is instantaneous thanks to the Internet.
Everyone seems to know a little of everything; and if they [...]

Whatchamacallit

The only explanation I offer for the title of this post is that I can’t think of anything else!  
Writing is not easy. And I don’t mean just titles. Writing five sentences on nothing in particular can be tough, too. This was an exercise I gave my students in one of their introductory syntax classes for the semester. Saves me [...]

The return of Macaulay

“What am I doing?” I sometimes wonder after a particularly trying day at work. My Significant Other wonders, too, for he thinks we government wallahs are lazy good-for-nothings. “It’s a rhetorical question,” I almost retort and then think the better of it. Rhetorical questions are usually preludes to major marital spats. 
So let me cut a [...]