Death watch Do people die anymore? I mean, I know our life expectancy is on the rise, but surely the human species has not achieved immortality. Giving death a pass Yet one can’t help but wonder, based on the everyday parlance both on the street and in the broadcast, and sometimes print, media apropos of […]
Ancel Keys on a Time cover in 1950; a 1984 Time issue; the current Time issue Well folks, it’s finally happened. Time magazine, the publication that led the entire Western world and beyond to shun saturated fat and eat more foods high in carbohydrates, resulting in countless early deaths, has admitted it was wrong. […]
Okay, listen up! Which is it: hark back, harken back, or hearken back? Hark, harken and hearken all mean the same thing: to listen. And when you add back to each word, they again all mean the same: to go back to something earlier. Remarkin’ on harken So which do you choose? An online grammar […]
Ripened corn The Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. Whether or not that’s true, it sure seems to have affected the roots of corn. The motivation for the 2007 federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires that 10 percent of transportation fuel includes renewable fuels, seemed to be a […]
Americans become outraged when they hear about people at the lower end of the economic spectrum receiving government welfare assistance because they’re not working and spending it on such frivolous, unnecessary pursuits as a trip to Disney World. People who work hard for their money don’t want to give it away in taxes to support […]
Do you ever read a newspaper story, an advertisement, an essay or some other piece of literature and feel as though you’re being jerked out of your seat? Not by the content, but the punctuation. Omission of commas in critical places can hamper understanding, but unnecessary commas impinge on smooth expository flow. An egregious category […]
President Lyndon B. Johnson Ten days ago, the nation observed the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, brought to fruition by President Lyndon Johnson eight months after his inauguration, with the help of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana. It was the culmination of efforts by the Rev. Dr. […]
President Obama In 2008 and again in 2012, I voted for Barack Obama for president. His current low approval ratings are due mainly, I believe, to the noise made by Republicans and their supporters in the media, primarily Fox News. His every action or inaction elicits howls of condemnation from these people. Throughout the […]
HELP! Spare me from redundant use of the word. Redundancy reigns It is ubiquitous in combination with another verb, when either that verb or help could stand on its own two feet without any – well, help. Consider this sentence in an alternative-health newsletter: “There are tons of studies out there that claim eating a […]
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” That’s the Bible talking, and it sort of turned out to be prophetic. Salt hasn’t lost […]