choosing words wisely

the predominant driver in pop culture humor morphed in the early 2000’s from irony to awkwardness. The switch is best explained as the difference between the mid 90’s, Larry-David-written Seinfeldian humor and later-career Larry in Curb Your Enthusiasm .

They’re not the same.

You know this because of how each makes you feel.

Awkwardness gives you a... See more

In my ideal world, the act of saying sorry at appropriate times would be a hallmark of power rather than a marker of weakness. I think many women would feel more comfortable among the powerful if it were.

So here’s a little shout to the sorry-sayers, the carers. I think we’ve gotten a bad rep. I hope we can unapologetically say our sorry’s, loud and... See more

Languages are living things. They age and change and grow and shrink. Sometimes we use a word incorrectly on a personal level for years (see me and immergance vs. emergance , gah) and sometimes a whole bunch of people begin “misusing” a word with such frequency that the word acquires that new, misused meaning. See: literally , which was “mis”-used ... See more

As we encounter complex ideas, they’re often explained with a form of semantic algebra. You understand X, and this is a bit like that, but different...

Understanding is worth the effort.