Word of the Day: Antithalian
Barry, the antithalian Australian, after a day spent scowling at cooing babies...
The difference between i.e. and e.g.
After raging ad-hoc, non-traditional apostrophe abuse, one of the most common mistakes an editor sees is people using 'i.e.' and 'e.g.' interchangeably. First things first: they are not interchangeable. Well, they may be interchangeable in some kind of surrealist anti-grammar situation, where the desired effect is to get your reader to tear out their tongue [...]
Word of the Day: Misology
Definition: a hatred of reason. A distrust of logical debate. Going far beyond plain old cognitive dissonance—the holding of conflicting viewpoints—misology seems to be quite popular.
Australian English—where the bloody hell did it come from?
How do we explain the general homogeneity of the Australian accent (almost no variation in a country 30 times the size of Britain)? What is Australian English, anyway? (Is it more than just the accent?) This post explores these questions, and influences on Australian English—from colonial times to present day.
The 3 arms of government (and why wheels need to be round)
Most of you would know that we have a Constitution that—not really so long ago—denied the rights of some of our most vulnerable citizens. It gets away with being silent on fundamental rights by outlining the separation of powers—rights protection through process. There are 3 arms that balance each other out to make sure that the [...]
Syllepsis: 2 examples from popular music
All I do is keep the beat and bad company—Mark Knopfler This is an a example of syllepsis, a fun rhetorical device...
Anchoring bias
None of us are safe from the anchoring bias. The way we reason is coloured by our experiences, our parents' experiences, where we live, what we do. And little behavioural shortcuts are hardwired into our brains—these might help us make quicker decisions, but they don’t help us make better ones. One of them is the [...]
(Little Squeak’s) Word of the Day: Car
Definition: A road vehicle, typically with four wheels powered by an internal-combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people. Using Little Squeak logic, everything from a Lamborghini to Lego on wheels is a ‘car’. And they are all awesome. (Vroom, vroom!) The word ‘car’ is thought to be based on the Gaulish word [...]