September 2011
39 posts
Vagina is masculine
David Sedaris describes his problems with learning French:
‘Of all the stumbling blocks inherent in learning this language, the greatest for me is the principle that each noun has a corresponding sex that affects both its articles and its advjectives.
Because it is a female and lays eggs, a chicken is masculine. Vagina is masculine as well, while the word masculinity is feminine. Forced by...
“Re-read your philosophy.”
– My old friend Alex, some time last spring, as I told him about the seemingly insurmountable difficulties I was facing in all possible areas of life.
Because he always gave it to me straight, it came as a sharp reminder that life doesn’t get better. It’s all on you: remember how to live,...
“To be honest, I find that life often has a bitter taste. But I like beer and...”
– André Comte-Sponville, whose book A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues I attempted to summarise on this blog last year, in an interview from last summer that I just got to read today.
He describes himself as a philosopher from the past, when philosophy was still a love of wisdom, a daily practice,...
Things that I quite literally, and disturbingly,...
indefensible:
We were talking this morning and we decided that a perfect night out would be to go to a bar, meet up with Anna and Jason Ras-Per prepared with a list of things that Anna and Erin could rant about while Jason and I sat there giggling like a couple of dopes.
It is 8:13 a.m. in Paris, I woke up about 20 minutes ago, I am scrolling through things, as you do, I read this and feel...
A Real Hero - College, featuring Electric Youth...
“I have a horrible feeling my first word might’ve even been...”
– Stephen Fry, in the first installment of his BBC series about language, called Fry’s Planet Word, which I will now be watching from the U.S., thanks to this beautiful little thing my friend José told me about.
— SF, from London.
“I don’t want to believe I live in a country that would seriously consider...”
– Gail Collins knows Mitt Romney is the Republicans’ best option in Perry’s Bad Night.
She goes on to say:
And when George W. Bush was marching through the primaries, saying things that made no sense whatsoever, Republican voters told one another that if he got into trouble, he could always...
Hitler didn't snub Jesse Owens; FDR did.
Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals for the U.S. at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, tells the story:
“When I passed the Chancellor, he arose, waved his hand at me and I waved back at him. Hitler didn’t snub me. It was Franklin Delanoe Roosevelt who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram. When I came back to my native country, I couldn’t ride in the front...
statedept:
Today is Passport Day. U.S. passport agencies have extended hours, no appointment necessary. http://t.co/uEOm41jo @TravelGov
Late in the day, but there you go. — From SF.
Pet Peeve #3465
Here is a non-exhaustive list of idiotic job titles that were funny for about five minutes, have turned into sad clichés and, when they appear on a business card, make me quietly cringe at the person handing it to me and the organization they work for:
Product “Evangelist”
Productivity “Guru”
Social Media “Champion”
Tonsorial “Artist” (a...
WatchAl Madrigal, last night in The Daily Show:
Al: I just really don’t think that any candidate will ever be good enough [for the Tea Party]. Jon: Someone will come along, that’s how these types of politics go, another Ronald Reagan… Al: What? Are you nuts? Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood commie who raised taxes, grew government and gave amnesty to illegal immigrants. That poor son...
