Now on Literary Ashland
literaryashland.org?p=12209

“I’m good” The word good does a lot of work in English. Aside from its garden-variety sense (as in “good game” or “good job” or “good dog”), we find the word has a number of extended uses.

My OUP blog column for October
blog.oup.com/2025/10/im-g...

This Thursday

Symbol swearing with the Grawlix I miss a lot of things about the decline of paper newspapers, especially the comic strips. The comics were verbal humor with pictures and recurring characters, and the language of the comics provided ...

My September blog piece: blog.oup.com/2025/09/symb...

Let’s stop talking about conspiracy “theories” A few years ago, I taught an undergraduate course on “Cons, Cults, and Conspiracies Theories,” exploring the connections and parallels among those phenomena.

My OUP blog from August
blog.oup.com/2025/08/lets...

Does anyone ever answer Cliff Bentz's phone?!

Now on Literary Ashland
literaryashland.org?p=12178

My review of BYE BYE I LOVE YOU in The Journal of the Medical Library Association jmla.mlanet.org/ojs/jmla/art...

What does one day mean? A while ago, a reader pointed me to a comment on another writer’s OUPblog piece. The comment complained about a caption on a photo, an image of the painting “Adam and Eve in Paradise” by the seventeen...

My OUP blog for July
blog.oup.com/2025/07/what...

Now that Congress is on its paid summer vacation, maybe Cliff Bentz will hold some town halls.

Now on Literary Ashland
literaryashland.org?p=12172

Just reminded my congressman that there aren't many billionaires in his district.

Doppelganger names We often think of personal names as specific to an individual, and sometimes they are. Yet often they are not. After all, the same individual may go by more than one name.

My OUP Blog post for June
blog.oup.com/2025/06/dopp...

An interview with Parker Boom
literaryashland.org?p=12160

What's missing?

literaryashland.org?p=12150

What I learned from reading Harlan Ellison When I was in high school, I went through a Harlan Ellison phase. Ellison, who died in 2017, was a prolific science fiction and screenwriter and the author of such stories as “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Sai...

My OUP Blog post for May
blog.oup.com/2025/05/what...

Now on Literary Ashland: An interview with Marcie Rendon
literaryashland.org?p=12133

What to do with too many books? A while ago, my wife and I had some work done on our house, which entailed packing up a half-dozen bookcases until the work was done. We took the opportunity to sift through our books and to decide wh...

My OUP Blog piece for April
blog.oup.com/2025/04/what...

Slow down your writing Sentences that are clear in our heads may be less clear when they come out of our mouths. When we talk, we get feedback from our audience or conversational partners. We observe facial expressions and ...

My OUP Blog for March: blog.oup.com/2025/03/slow...

What I'm reading:
literaryashland.org?p=12110

My review of REBEL QUEEN
literaryashland.org?p=12103

DOGE Privacy Act Requests U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (...

@hcrichardson.bsky.social Rep Jamie Raskin has created a FOIA form letter for people to demand details on if and how their data stored on government systems has been used.

They flood the zone, we can flood the zone right back within the structure of the law.

jamieraskin.com/doge-privacy...

Now on Literary Ashland

literaryashland.org?p=12098

Fashion lingo As a linguist, I understand that language shifts and changes.  The voiced z sound of houses is being replaced by an unvoiced s sound.  The abbreviation A.I. has become a verb, as in “He A.I.ed it.” Ne...

My OUP Blog piece for February blog.oup.com/2025/02/fash...

Information vs. misinformation: Local panel to discuss how to navigate modern informational landscapes - Ashland News - Community-Supported, NonProfit News The Friends of Hannon Library will host a panel discussion on "Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation" from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13. More and more, researchers, students, and citi...

ashland.news/information-...

Information vs. misinformation: Local panel to discuss how to navigate modern informational landscapes - Ashland News - Community-Supported, NonProfit News The Friends of Hannon Library will host a panel discussion on "Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation" from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13. More and more, researchers, students, and citi...

This Thursday
ashland.news/information-...

Mr review of The Truth About English Grammar
literaryashland.org?p=12087