Archive for: July 2007

At 3 games out of first in baseball’s toughest division — and with one of the NL’s best records since May 1 — the Rockies were informed Monday evening that veteran starter Rodrigo Lopez was likely lost for season with …

And it must be true, too, because there are bullet points involved.

Now, were I to look at this “semiotically,” I’d note that the use of bullet points makes conspicuous an absence of transitions — and it is in a …

A few days back I linked to (and subsequently commented on, in a way I thought was politically neutral) Dr John Barnes’ semiotic analysis of “Scott Thomas,” who has since been revealed as Scott Beauchamp, a one-time …

Schumer: “No offense, but we’re using the wrong strategy here, skip. Rather than making a pitching changes — which is only going to burn out the bullpen — I think what we should do is add a few …

Seems easy enough.

Ahem.

“The only thing we
have to fear is fear itself.
And huge Jap lizards.”

Late to the party I am, but still. From the AP, “Hate-crime arrests in Quran desecrations at Pace University”:A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on …

Hopefully we’ll get a header up sometime this evening in time to open the PW Pub tomorrow.

Those of you interested in posting over there, email me.

Meantime, continue to marvel at those who can’t seem to grasp that it …

oatmeal: “You know, I’ve tried everything to sex up my image — from adding maple and brown sugar to going instant — and still I’m known primarily for lowering cholesterol and for being endorsed by the AHA.

“I’m …

It’s easy, just wear a pocket protector and call yourself a nerd.
What is a nerd? Mary Bucholtz, a linguist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been working on the question for the last 12 years. She has gone to high schools and colleges, mainly in California, and asked students from different crowds to think about the idea of nerdiness and who among their peers should be considered a nerd; students have also “reported” themselves. Nerdiness, she has concluded, is largely a matter of racially tinged behavior.  …

 People who are considered nerds tend to act in ways that are, as she puts it, “hyperwhite.” …

As a linguist, Bucholtz understands nerdiness first and foremost as a way of using language. In a 2001 paper, “The Whiteness of Nerds: Superstandard English and Racial Markedness,” and other works, including a book in progress, Bucholtz notes that the “hegemonic” “cool white” kids use a limited amount of African-American vernacular English; they may say “blood” in lieu of “friend,” or drop the “g” in “playing.” But the nerds she has interviewed, mostly white kids, punctiliously adhere to Standard English.
It is said that for the hammer, everything is a nail and it would appear for Mary Bucholtz all [white kid] behavior is racially motivated, even choice of language and clothing.