One for the Morning Glory, by John Barnes
Sort of a book recommendation and sort of not.
Archive for Malapropisms
Walking into bars
I really enjoyed this set of “…walks into a bar” jokes about various aspects of language. Some examples: A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly. A bar was walked into by the passive voice. Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.” A malapropism […]
Analyzing Benedict Cumberbatch name variants
Back in December, linguistics grad student Gretchen McCulloch analyzed joke variants on Benedict Cumberbatch's name to see what the underlying patterns are. She gave more statistical detail in a post...
Exasperated problems
This just in from the AP, by way of AOL: [...] spacewalking repairs may be needed sometime after Discovery leaves this weekend. The problem is exasperated by the fact that...
defiled
I don't usually open 419-scam emails, but I happened to glance at this one, and was amused at a particular phrase: Dear Sir/Ma, My name is Mr.Gat Butu I am...
scrambled
Our Web site features the highest standard of encryption available. With this state-of-the-art security, your personal data is scrambled before it's transmitted through the Internet. --flyer from MBNA, received...
tempura
Flemish artists used mixed tempura and oil painting during the 1400s[....] --Oil paint entry in Wikipedia, until 16 January 2006 I corrected this in the entry, of course, but...
judicial and judicious
"Judge Alito has been a judicious judge and my confidence he will be a judicial justice is based on my personal knowledge of the man and my belief his...
veritable
The winning streak for this veritable show continues through its fourth year. --Amazon's editorial review of The West Wing: The Complete Fourth Season DVD It's so show-like that it's...