Thursday, January 02, 2003
“Girard’s work shows that all human societies have mythologies. The most common is variously described as the victimage mechanism or scapegoating. Societies based on this mythology form when someone is accused as a scapegoat for the conflict that exists in society. Guilt is incidental. “Girard suggests that modern societies, too, are based on mythologies. The many symbols of nationalism—cheering the president, singing the anthem, waving the flag, and taboos and penalties against those who don’t cheer, sing or wave loudly enough—all these are typical of mythologies in other societies. “The problem we have is that we do not think so. “When some wild Arab spokesman describes America as the ëGreat Satan’ we know immediately that he is appealing to a myth. But when President Bush puts Iraq and North Korea on the ëaxis of evil’ we react as if he is stating a fact. Are we incapable of seeing in ourselves that which we see in others?” (Source Link)
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
“While the press sometimes refers to these eye-popping awards as ërunaway verdicts,’ the term is more often than not misleading, since it suggests that juries are racing off madly on a tear of their own. Quite the contrary is usually true: Most ërunaway’ juries are behaving precisely as one set of lawyers has been carefully coaching and skillfully inciting them to do. They are, for the most part, not running away from anything but running toward a resolution of the case that trial advocates have portrayed to them as reasonable. In seeking to account for exorbitant or unjust verdicts, the most relevant question to ask is usually not, ëWhy did these jurors behave so irrationally?’ but rather, ëHow did the lawyers manage to portray this outcome as rational?‘“ (Source Link)
The home shopping channel QVC ranks second in revenues, after NBC, of all American television networks.
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“Mills’ narrator—unnamed, as in Three to See the King, his novel from last December—combines the driving skills of a bus operator with the time-wasting prowess of a professional writer. He works a cushy job as a delivery man for the Scheme, a shadowy concern that ferries mysterious cargo around a large, unnamed city in ubiquitous vehicles called UniVans. About halfway in—sooner, for book flap readers—we find out what’s in all those crates: UniVan parts. ëSo we’re driving around in UniVans, full of bits of UniVan?’ a new trainee asks. ëCorrect,’ the narrator answers. ëIt’s self-perpetuating. We move the parts from one depot to the next, and it keeps us all in work.‘“ (Source Link)
A famous Parisian bistrot run by curates in a neighborhood known for strip clubs and prostitutes, cl
This is the personal weblog of Grant Barrett, editor of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a collection of words from the fringes of English. More about this site...
Recent Entries
- A hearty endorsement of shout quotes: scare quotes used for emphasis
- How to buy a dictionary
- Jinx and padiddle: games we play
- Saying it wrong on purpose
- Nicknames from the Underground: Busharraf, Chillary, and Killadelphia
- New slang unpacked
- UPDATED: Crosswords in Black and White
- Find me in American Way Magazine
- Recent catchwords: read-alike, violin hickey, throw a Porsche at someone, Q-tip cruise, 1-800 car
- The Tell-All of the Century: Snitching Slang
- Fog line, instant ancestor, trashout
- See, ya kid: saying goodbye in slang
- Interview with British slang lexicographer Jonathon Green
- New Scientist: “Word nerds capture fleeting online English”
- The blueprints of a Craigslist apartment scam
Recent Catchwords
- park v. (5/16)
- whale eye n. (5/16)
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- Churchill n. (5/15)
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- mouse type n. (5/14)
- hung up adj. (5/14)
- sideways market n. (5/14)
- Bristol dust n. (5/14)
- booth turnaround n. (5/14)
- YAWN n. (5/13)
- doodlesocking n. (5/13)
- job and knock n. (5/13)
- radwaste n. (5/12)
- meat without feet n. (5/12)
- night-out money n. (5/12)
- podbusting n. (5/12)
- short-and-distort n. (5/12)
- yoging n. (5/12)
- nightstand Buddhist n. (5/9)
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