The Lexicographer's Rules

"One of the more remarkable things that distinguishes the US from any other place in the world is that, if a group of people move to the US and take out American citizenship, in less than a generation, in most cases, they become Americans, they refer to their country, they refer to their Constitution, they refer to their political problems, but you find very little evidence of a first-generation American referring to home as somewhere else, or to 'them' as opposed to 'us.' What has happened in the colonial experience in Africa is that communities and races have tended to keep themselves to themselves. This is not just what's generally referred to as the black-white divide, but also between language groupingsŃyou have people who speak one language, other people speaking another language, and there's very little mixing."

—South Africa Daily Mail and Guardian. Environmentalist and conservationist Richard Leakey considers himself an African, not a white African. He discusses conservation and other issues with Fiona Macleod. "If you're going to have people living in big towns and you're going to have mechanised agriculture, and you're going to have all of the things that go with a technologically modern society, then you have to have conservation. You can't reject conservation as Western and leave the rest as okay."'

"Though 'music of black origin' has figured heavily in the charts ever since Elvis was dubbed a 'white Negro' (someone once calculated that German synth automatons Kraftwerk were the only band to have no black influences whatsoever), by common consent it's now the biggest, most lucrative and most visible genre."

—Guardian. Music awards ceremonies areŃguess whatŃan "annual hootenanny of backslapping and champers."'

"Condescend, Condescend, Condescend. Instructors should learn at least one good phrase like this one: 'It's that kind of thinking that got you where you are today.' Another advantage of the widely popular life skills strategy is that it produces those tidy little units called 'outcomes' that government and charitable funding sources have begun to require of late. Though the days of no accountability are over and we do mourn them, we must keep up with the times as well and find ways to produce outcomes without really impacting the problem at hand."

—Poor Magazine. The fourth part of the multi-part series "Keep the Poor Poor," this segment explaining how "life skills" classes for the poor can amount to redundancy, impenetrable technical jargon and condescension.'

"When I'm alone, I wander the house. Ellen handled the finances, so I have no idea whether we've paid the bills. Until the collectors call. One asks when I'll get the car payment in. 'I'm sorry, my wife's in a coma...' The woman cuts me off. 'Sir, I'll read the contract to you.' 'Did you hear me?' I say. 'My wife's in a coma. If you call again I'll pour gasoline on the car and set it on fire.'"

—Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Jon Tevlin writes a moving multipart story about his wife, Ellen, and her affliction with Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome. "Then one night, late, I can't sleep, so I go back to the hospital. I do something really mean, something I will regret, but if Ellen can hear me, maybe it will make her fight even harder. I lean over the bed and take her hand. 'Ellen, if you die,' I say, 'I don't want to live. I won't live.' Then I go home and play the Pogues' 'Living in a World Without Her.' I turn it up so loud that it wakes my in-laws."'

"She could rescue three children from a burning house, and they'd believe she staged it for publicity purposes. She is 'La Diabla' to them, and that isn't going to change."

—Christian Science Monitor. Hillary Clinton's approval rating has grown to 54 percent, higher than when she was elected, but a solid 30 percent of residents of New York state have a very unfavorable opinion of her. Tom, a Republican: "She hasn't done anything, she ain't gonna do anything, and she never will do anything."'